RISE OF TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN

On 11th September 2001, terrorist attacks in America killed nearly 3,000 people. Osama Bin Laden, the head of the Islamist terror group Al-Qaeda, was quickly identified as the man responsible. The Taliban, radical Islamists who ran Afghanistan at that time, protected Bin Laden and refused to hand him over. So, a month after 9/11 the US launched airstrikes against Afghanistan. After the attacks, the NATO coalition troops declared war on Afghanistan. The US dislodged the Taliban regime and established a transitional government in Afghanistan. The Taliban is a predominantly Pashtun, Islamic fundamentalist group that returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after waging a twenty-year insurgency. In the US-led invasion that toppled the original regime in 2001, the Taliban regrouped across the border in Pakistan and began taking back territory less than ten years of their ouster. Now, the Taliban had seized all the cities, including the capital of Kabul. 

IDEOLOGY OF TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN

The Taliban’s ideology has been described as combining a form of Sharia Islamic law based on Deobandi fundamentalism and militant Islamism combined with Pashtun social and culture known as Pashtunwali. The Taliban prevented girls and young women from attending school, banned women from working jobs outside of healthcare (male doctors were prohibited from treating women), and required that women be accompanied by male relatives and wear a burqa at all times when in public. If women broke certain rules they were publicly whipped or executed. While the Taliban controlled Afghanistan, they banned activities and media including paintings, photography, and, movies that depicted people or other living things. The Taliban said earlier this year it wanted a “genuine Islamic system ” for Afghanistan that would make provisions for women and minority rights in line with cultural traditions and religious rules. Individuals or citizens of Afghanistan who are not allowed to serve in government decisions are often threatened by the Taliban. The Taliban which now goes by the name ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ on Monday (06/09/21) asserted that the formation of its constitution of the country will be rewritten or amended.

Decisions on the national flag, constitution, and anthem are being made by the new cabinet. Since returning to power, the Taliban has been looking to stamp their authority on many areas of Afghan life-including changing the country’s flag. Images of a white banner bearing the Muslim Proclamation of Faith and the formal name of their regime have been prevalent since the Taliban took over Kabul with this new flag having replaced Afghanistan’s tricolor flag. It is not just individuals on the streets that are carrying this flag, though, as it has now been put on a show above government buildings, police stations, and, military facilities.

AFGHANISTAN GOVERNMENT’S IMPACT ON OTHER COUNTRIES AND INDIA

Since India has not been in a position to influence the outcome in Afghanistan, it is time for New Delhi to carefully monitor the evolving situation and wait for the opportunity for new engagements. The Taliban government, even under Pakistani influence, will need broader recognition and economic opportunities arising from linkages. For India, a bigger challenge will be the Taliban’s renewed support for international terrorism and Pakistan’s re-direction of jihadi groups that have allegedly fought with the Taliban towards India. India faces a challenge to deradicalize the region for long-lasting peace and stability.

In the case of Russia, experts pointed out that one of Russia’s immediate priorities would be to limit the risk of spillover fighting or the movement of organized extremist groups into the central Asian states along Afghanistan’s northern border. The Taliban is strengthening its control in the Border area. The Taliban is occupying the border area with other countries instead of central Afghanistan and has taken control of the districts bordering Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan.

China shares a small boundary line with Afghanistan through its restive Xinjiang province. There have been reports that the Taliban has been sympathetic to the Uighur Muslims group as opposed to the Chinese Communist regime. China fears that the Taliban, once stabilized in Afghanistan may help the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). China could face challenges from ethnic Uighur Jihadists in Xinjiang. 

As has been pointed out by many security experts, Pakistan has been the main actor in Afghanistan, especially long-lasting backing of the Taliban regime despite their emphasis on using terror as the instrument of projecting authority. Therefore, for any progress to be expected, Pakistan needs to be stopped from promoting violence and terror in Afghan society. Even Pakistan has reason to worry. The Taliban has close ties to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan which has waged a bitter insurgency against Pakistan and continues to stage terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The TTP also targeted Chinese interest in Pakistan.

SUGGESTION TO CONTAIN AGAINST RISING TALIBAN

While most countries in South Asia can afford to focus their counter-terrorism and Counter- radicalization efforts domestically, that’s not the case for India due to India’s geographical centrality in the region and sharing close ethnic-region affinity with all its neighboring countries, it remains particularly vulnerable as far as the effects of deteriorating security situations in the neighborhood are concerned. The way forward for India lies in ensuring maximum coordination and cooperation with countries that share the same concern about the rise of the Taliban in the region. The United States still needs eyes on Afghanistan. The Taliban is not our ally; we clearly do not fully understand them and they continue to surprise us. The Biden administration must begin the hard work of developing a plan for protecting its long-term national security interest in South Asia. 

CONCLUSION

• In the wake of the attack targeting Afghan civilians and international military and humanitarian personnel at Kabul airport, the devastating impact of the Taliban’s seizure of power is becoming more visible day by day. The international and regional security threat that the Taliban pose and where it will be directed requires careful scrutiny, as to where it will likely be shaped and how the regional powers affected by Afghanistan’s fate will respond to this threat.