More Countries Renew Taliban Ties 5 Years After 2021 Takeover as Rights Abuses Deepen
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 15
More Countries Renew Taliban Ties 5 Years After 2021 Takeover as Rights Abuses Deepen
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 15
Summary
India, Qatar, China, Iran, Russia and several Central Asian states have recently expanded contacts with the Taliban, signaling a broader shift away from the isolation imposed after Kabul fell in 2021.
Those ties are being driven by security concerns, migration pressures in Europe and growing acceptance that the Taliban are unlikely to be forced from power soon.
Russia recognized the Taliban government more than a year ago and signed a military cooperation deal last month, while the EU held its first formal Brussels talks with Taliban officials since 2021 in June on failed asylum-seeker returns.
Human rights groups and the UN warn the outreach is fragmenting leverage over a regime that has barred women from universities and most work, denied girls education and intensified repression of minorities, activists and journalists.
Analysts say the Taliban treat each contact as a legitimacy gain, yet see little chance the movement will ease its domestic crackdown while conservative factions remain dominant under Hibatullah Akhundzada.
With Russia signing military pacts and Europe negotiating deportations, is the international community secretly accepting the Taliban's permanent rule?
As global powers quietly embrace the Taliban for security and trade, will human rights be permanently sacrificed for geopolitical pragmatism?