Taliban recognition as a state

As the US completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the 20-year-long war comes to an end, and the long-established conflict between the American inconsistency in dealing with Afghans over the years and the Pashtun government (Taliban) gives way to diplomacy. The US-backed Afghan government and the Taliban both appear on the world stage, each hoping to win power in government. Following the Taliban’s power grab after the fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021, the nation lost control of the majority of the country, and Ashraf Ghani, the last president of the US-backed Afghan government, escaped to the UAE seeking political asylum. As an outcome, the Republic of Afghanistan was wrecked, and the country is now controlled by the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

The Taliban, on the other hand, are the de facto ruling government, expecting de jure or legal recognition from the world community. Is it a requisite for the Taliban rule to gain state recognition under international law? Where do the Taliban stand in terms of recognition?

Region, population, sovereignty and the ability to engage in interactions with other states are all core elements of statehood, as stated in the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States. The people residing in that region must be socially organised, governed and represented by officials in order for the government to be competent and independent enough to engage in international legal relations.

Significantly, if one of the constituent parts is lacking, the state does not dissolve; rather, it remains. For example, when the Third Reich collapsed, Germany was left without a centralised power, yet the state did not come to an end. As a consequence, the instability of the government does not affect the reality that Afghanistan is a state and a recognised independent body under international law.

What does state recognition mean in light of the fact that Afghanistan is already a state? The Taliban are trying to establish it by diplomatic means, saying that Afghans living on Taliban territory are citizens of the country and that the Taliban can engage themselves in international affairs.

As state recognition is a political rather than a legal act, it has no specific implications. Such an act, however, has significant weight in international relations and is never taken lightly. As a result, gaining governmental recognition is challenging. Recognition has some basic influence in general, but it is not constitutive of the state. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg dilemma.

State recognition could be a judgmental and unsupported act from another state. There’s no collective body with the authority to recognise states. It’s a worth to be paid during a localised system of states, each of which is present with the judgmental authority to recognise or not recognise different states.

Whereas some states may recognise the Taliban, other states do not. At the end of the day, you may wonder what that entity is, and whether or not it is a state or not. It depends upon whether or not the Taliban win political legitimacy. State recognition may be a confusing matter positioning a state as a legal entity, and also the Taliban are attempting to unravel the puzzle.

Even if the Taliban are not recognised by any state, their future as a state is dependent on their diplomacy and control of Afghanistan. Only time will tell whether the Taliban can gain recognition by attempting to portray a new image of themselves to the world that is safe and stable and respects women’s rights.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2021.

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