A new UN report slaps down the belief that the Afghan Taliban’s relationship with the Pakistani establishment may have been beneficial in any way in our fight against terrorism, as it describes ties between Afghanistan’s rulers, al-Qaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as “strong and symbiotic”, adding that “a range of terrorist groups has greater freedom of manoeuvre under the Taliban de facto authorities.” The sanctions committee report says the Taliban are using this extensive leeway to its ‘friendly’ terrorist groups as a means to strengthen its own position at the expense of security in regional countries.
In fact, the only group against which Kabul has even lifted a finger is Daesh, which the Taliban views as a direct threat to its own rule. Daesh is also the only group against which the Taliban asks for support in combatting. Simply put, the Taliban have no interest in fighting international terrorism or terrorist ideology. They only want to eliminate terrorist groups that oppose their regime. Meanwhile, these Taliban efforts to consolidate power have been ruinous to Pakistan, no matter how Taliban apologists may try to paint it. While the US and other Western democracies deserve criticism for sometimes supporting dictators, this is usually situational and out of economic self-interest. In general, democracies tend to export democratic values, but fascist regimes always export fascism, because democracy is inherently antifascist and anti-authoritarian.
The Taliban’s response to journalists was unsurprising — accusing the report’s authors of being opponents of the regime and the Afghan people, while offering little to actually counter the claims, such as details of any actions taken to combat al-Qaeda or TTP, or even refuting claims of continuing direct interaction between top Taliban leaders and the TTP leadership. If the Taliban really want to end sanctions, they must show they are honouring their commitments to the peace deal with the US that allowed them to return to power: they need to start taking action against the TTP and al-Qaeda.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 13th, 2023.
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