Two decades’ devastating and unjustified war between Afghanistan and US & allied forces had a severe impact on Afghanistan’s economy. The situation was further aggravated when the Taliban again captured Kabul on 15 August 2021 and gained full control of the country. Subsequent to this development US Government froze foreign reserves of USD 9.5 billion held by the Afghan central bank with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and other financial institutions. The Joe Biden administration also halted Dollar shipments to Afghanistan which crippled the country’s liquidity position. Apart from this various sanctions, which were already in place since 1999, were expanded and strictly applied. Now the Taliban regime has no access to IMF, World Bank, and other international financial institutions. Furthermore, Previously 75% of Afghanistan’s budget was met with annual financial assistance from the international community, which is no longer available.
The aforesaid restrictions have left the country with a collapsed economy, crippled banking system, unemployment, inflation, and extreme poverty. These were compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic spread over the entire country and severe droughts recently experienced by the farmers causing acute food shortages. Consequently, serious humanitarian crises have arisen in Afghanistan. People are now facing hunger and children are suffering from malnutrition. There is also a lack of medical facilities and a shortage of life-saving and other essential drugs enhancing the peoples’ sufferings. It is feared that around half of the population of the country may be on the verge of starvation if sufficient remedial measures are not taken soon. As per the UN Afghanistan Humanitarian Plan USD, 4.4 billion is required towards relief aid in 2022 to avert this situation.
Response from the international community: The international community has positively responded to the needs of the Afghan people. UN humanitarian agency, The Afghan Red Crescent, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and many NGOs have been rendering valuable services to the needy Afghan people providing them with food, medical care, and drinking water. Since August 2021, the United States alone has provided more than USD 0.5 billion to facilitate and expand humanitarian work in the country.
In the OIC meeting held at Islamabad on 19 December 2021, attended by 57 delegates, the Muslim countries pledged to establish a trust fund with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for providing humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan. The fund will facilitate Muslim nations to donate without dealing directly with the Taliban. Hopefully, through this trust fund humanitarian relief can be provided to the needy Afghan people in near future. Again a meeting of OIC countries is scheduled at Islamabad on 22 & 23 March 2022, to discuss various issues including Afghanistan.
Apart from the above food and medical supplies have been provided in large quantities for the Afghan people by the Peoples Republic of China, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, and other countries. The international community continues to provide such humanitarian assistance for the war-ravaged people of the country.
On February 11, 2022, the US Government freed the Afghan central bank’s foreign reserves of USD 7.00 billion held with the US Federal Reserve, New York, which were earlier frozen following political changes in Afghanistan in August 2021. The move was aimed at splitting the fund equally for providing humanitarian relief to the people of Afghanistan and compensation to 9/11 victims. However, this was widely criticized on the ground that the fund was solely owned by Afghan people and there would be no justification if it was partly used to compensate 9/11 victims. In this context, this should be borne in mind that in no way Afghan people were responsible for the unfortunate happenings of 11 September 2001.
The imposition of various sanctions was adversely impacting the flow and distribution of funds essentially required for relief work in Afghanistan. To overcome these problems the US authority (the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control) issued non-public specific licenses and public general licenses in September 2021. These licenses eased some restrictions which were hindering or preventing humanitarian activities. Based on the general licenses payments can be made towards import duties, taxes, fees, government levies, utility services, etc. However, these general licenses could not address the issues substantially. In this context, the most notable action was taken on February 25, 2022, when the Treasury issued General License 20 (GL 20) authorizing to the extent required, “all transactions involving Afghanistan and its governing institutions that would otherwise be prohibited by US sanctions.” The license now facilitates all commercial and financial transactions which are linked to humanitarian activities or deemed necessary for the welfare of the people of the country. Most importantly this also extends to the transactions involving governing institutions in Afghanistan. These measures will now provide the necessary liquidity and expand the economy of the country. However, sanctions remain in place on the Taliban and Haqqani network and they will not be benefited from these measures.
Political issues
The international community was always worried about what was happening in Afghanistan following US & allied forces’ invasion on 7 October 2001 and subsequently when the entire country again came under the Taliban’s control in August 2021. Various humanitarian and political issues had stemmed from these happenings. In order to consider those issues and to ensure regional security & stability international conferences were held in China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran & Doha. Apart from this Troika Plus meetings were also held at different venues, which were attended by senior diplomats/special envoys from the United States, China, Russia & Pakistan. Some of these conferences/meetings were also attended by the Taliban’s representatives. This provided ample opportunities for all concerned to discuss the issues at length and to precisely understand each other’s viewpoints. After detailed deliberation, the international community reached the following consensus:-
• Formation of ‘inclusive government’ in Afghanistan;
• Preserving women’s right to education & work.
• Ensuring that Afghanistan’s soil is not used for terrorists’ activities in other countries.
These conditions were linked to the recognition of the present regime in Afghanistan by the international community. In the following paragraphs, we will examine the measures taken by the Taliban to meet these conditions:-
1. Inclusive government: inclusive government may be defined differently based on different concepts. However, commonly a government is considered ‘inclusive’ if it effectively represents all the major ethnic groups of the country just as we find in Switzerland. Such representation creates a deep sense of participation in different segments of society strengthening national harmony and integrity.
Based on these ideas the Taliban government reconstituted its Council of Ministers thrice ensuring that it fully represents the major ethnic groups of the country. Now the council includes ministers taken from Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek & Shia Hazara communities, which roughly constitute 90% of the population of the country. In this context the names of the following ministers belonging to minority ethnic groups are worth mentioning:-
1. Haji Noor-ud-Din Azizi, Minister of Commerce & Indt. – Tajik from Panjshir.
2. Qari Deen Hanif, Acting Minister of Economy. – Tajik.
3. Noorullah Noori, Minister for Borders & Tribal Affairs — Tajik.
4. Haji Muhammad Bashir, Dy.Min. Commerce & Industries. – Tajik.
5. Haji Muhammad Azim Sultanzada, Dy.Min. Commerce & Indt. — Uzbek.
6. Abdus Salam Hanafi, Second Dy. Prime Minister. — Uzbek
7. Moulvi Abdul Rehman Rashed, Minister of Agriculture. – Uzbek.
8. Dr. Muhammad Hassan Ghiasi, Dy.Minister, Public Health. – Hazara.
The council also includes a few non-Taliban ministers, who were never associated with the Taliban movement.
The present regime in Afghanistan is more inclusive than many other governments elsewhere. Just for comparison if we look towards India, we note that there is only one Muslim minister in the Indian Union Council of Ministers comprising 57 members, which is entirely disproportionate to the Muslim population of the country.
2. Women’s right to education & work: From the outset, it should be borne in mind that neither Islam nor Afghan traditions deny women’s rights to education and work. The only requirement for women is to observe ’hejab’ and to avoid mixed parties.
The girls are getting an education at the primary level as usual without any hindrance. Apart from this, they are getting an education at a secondary level too at various schools where it was possible to segregate classes for boys and girls. The government’s spokesman, Zubihullah Mujahid, expressed his hope to open remaining schools across the country by late March 2022, where classes will be completely segregated.
Public universities at Kabul, Helmand, Laghman, Nangarhar, Nimroz, Farah, Khandahar have also been opened, where women are attending segregated classes.
The government’s spokesman, Zubihullah Mujahid, has clarified that the present regime “is not against education but it is a question of capacity”. He further explained that “in heavily populated areas it was not enough to have separate classrooms for boys and girls. Separate school buildings and hostels were also needed”. Apart from this trained and well-educated female teachers and lecturers have to be recruited and paid. This requires huge funds which are strictly limited due to sanctions imposed by the UN, US, UK & EU.
The spokesman also stated that “women are working in the health and education sectors and at Kabul International Airport in customs and passport control”. He did not elaborate further as to when women would be allowed to work in other government offices. However, there are reasons to be optimistic that changes will gradually take place in other sectors too.
It should be borne in mind that a tribal & conservative culture prevails in Afghanistan. Seventy-four percent of the population of the country lives in rural areas, which strictly follow its tribal customs & traditions, although the people living in cities are somewhat liberal. The majority of the women like to be engaged in household activities and they are unwilling to work in offices. These aspects should be taken into account while discussing the issues of Afghan women. This will be entirely incorrect and misleading if their issues are viewed and analyzed based on ideas and traditions prevalent in European society.
3. Terrorist groups: The international community is also looking towards the Taliban to ensure that Afghan soil is not used for terrorist activities in other countries by militant groups like Al-Qaida. These groups emerged in Afghanistan in 1980 & onward, apparently with the support of western countries, to fight against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. One of these insurgent groups, namely Al-Qaida, is still present in Afghanistan, although it is now completely inoperative and poses no threat to any country. Another militant group, Tahreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP), with no international agenda, is still operative in Afghanistan causing problems for Pakistan. The Taliban leaders are in touch with the militants and the authorities in Pakistan so that members of this group could return to their country of origin and settle there peacefully.
Another small and politically motivated group, originated from Panjshir Valley and having its support base in a Central Asian country, is also active doing terrorist attacks off and on with the intent to create fear and panic among the Afghan people. However, this group operates locally and poses no threat to the international community.
The actual problem lies with the Khorasan Chapter of Islamic State (IS-K). Surprisingly this group emerged in Afghanistan when the country was under full control of US & allied forces. However, they faced stiff resistance from the Taliban, who inflicted deadly blows on them forcing them to surrender or retreat. Subsequent to the Taliban’s takeover of the country on 15 August 2021, they continued to attack this group causing irreparable damages to them. Apparently, a small part of this group is still active from its hidden sleepers doing terrorist attacks on innocent people at regular intervals. Taliban are fully capable of handling them and it would not be possible for them to use Afghan soil to attack any other country.
In this context, it should be mentioned here that Afghans are brave people. They have always fought against the colonial powers and got their country freed from their occupation. On the contrary, terrorists are cowardly people who kill innocent men, women, and children. These two groups are entirely opposite to each other.
Recognition of present regime: It is now absolutely necessary that the Taliban’s government is recognized by the international community taking into account what has been explained above and also considering the following facts:-
• The present regime has political existence and full and effective control and sovereignty over the territory of Afghanistan. It is an undeniable reality just like daylight and shining sun.
• It has effectively enforced the rule of law and maintained peace & order throughout the country. Before the Taliban’s take over on 15 August 2021, it was feared that there would be widespread bloodshed in the country in consequence of a likely civil war. However, the present regime averted this impending danger.
• The recognition of the present Afghan government is likely to boost the flow of investments and technical support from abroad, increase the volume of the country‘s international and domestic trade, provide greater opportunity for exploration of Afghanistan’s vast and valuable mineral resources, and so on. This will have a very positive impact on the economy, which in turn will benefit the poor masses of Afghanistan.
• Afghanistan is an independent and sovereign state. Therefore this will be the best course of action if the government there formulates policies and implements them independently, without any external pressure, to safeguard the interest of the people.
The people of Afghanistan are now looking towards the international community, particularly towards neighboring countries and the Muslim world, for positive developments in the matter.
