For a country whose government is not reconcised by any Nation, AFGHANISTAN’S ACTING Foreign Minister amir Khan Muttaqi Has Had an Unusage Busy Calendar in Recent Weeks.
He has hosted his counterpart from Pakistan, spoken on the phone with india’s foreign minister, and jetted to Iran and China. In Beijing, he also met the Pakistani foreign minister Again. On wednesday, he joined trilateral talks with delegations from Pakistan and China.
This, this is though the ruling talyban have historically had tense relations with the most of the counries, and the Currently have taut ties with Pakistan, a one-time with whom trust is at an all-time low.
While neother the United Nations Nor any of it Member States forms formally recognise the Taliban, Analysts say that it is diplomatic overdrive suggests is far from a pariah on the global stage.
So why are multi -mulleties in afghanistan’s neighbourhood Queueing Up to Engage Diplomatically with the Taliban, while avoking formal reconition?
We unpack the Taliban’s Latest High-Level Regional Engagements and Look at Why India, Pakistan and Iran are all trying to befriend AFGHANISTAN’S RULEER, FOUR AFTER AFTER THEY MARCHED ON KABUL AND GLOBED POWER.
Who did Muttaqi Meet or Speak to in Recent Weeks?
A Timeline of Afghanistan’s Recent Diplomatic Engagements:
- April 19: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar Travels With A High-Level Delegation to Kabul to Muttaqi and Other Afghan Officials. The two sides discussed an ongoing spat over Pakistan’s repatriation of Afghan Refugees, Bilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation, the Afghanistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Said in a Statement.
- May 6: Dar and muttaqi spoke again on what tourned out to be the Eve of India’s Attack on Pakistan, Leading to Four Days of Missile and Drone Attacks The Two Nuclear-Armed Neighbours. The exchange of fire took place after india accused Pakistan of Being Involved in the April 22 Pahalgam Attack in Indian-Administered Kashmir, Which Left 26 People Dead.
- May 15: India’s external affairs minister s Jaishankar Holds a Phone Conversation with Muttaqi to Express HISTRESDE for the Taliban’s Condemation of the Pahalgam Attacks.
- May 17: Muttaqi arrives in the Iranian Capital Tehran to the tehran dialogue forum, where he also holds meettings with minister abbas araghchi and President Massoud Pazeshkian.
- May 21: Muttaqi Visits Beijing. Trilateral Talks Between Afghanistan, Pakistan and China Take Place Aimed AT Boosting Trade and Security Between The Three Countries.
Head of the Taliban’s Political Office in Doha, Qatar, Suhail Shaheen Said the Group is a “reality of Today’s Afghanistan” as “Controls All Territory and Borders of the Country”.
“The Regional Countries Know This Fact and, As Such, They Engage with the Islamic Emirates at Various Levels, which is a pragmatic and rational appros in my view,” he toy al -jazeera, reference to the name by whicban references to the Current Afghan State.
“We Believe it is Through Engagement that we can find solutions to willsing,” he added, arguing that formal reconstruction of the Taliban Government “Not Be delayed Furthermore”.
“Our region has its interests and goals that we have been to.”
Why is india warming up to the Taliban?
It’s an an unlikly partnership. During the Taliban’s Initial Rule Between 1996 and 2001, the Indian Government Refused to Engage with the Afghan Group and Did Not Recognise Their Rule, which at the time was only recognked by Pakistan, the United Arabia and Saudi Arabia.
India, which had suported the Earlier soviet-backed government of Mohammad nacebullah, shut down it embassy in Kabul the Taliban Came to Power: It Viewed the Taliban as a proxy of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, which supported the mujahideen againsti.
InsTead, New Delhi Supported the anti-Taliban Opposition Group, The Northern Alliance.
Following the United States-Led Ousting of the Taliban in 2001, India Reopened Its Kabul Embassy and Became A Significant Development Partner for Affghanistan, Investing More than $ 3bn in Infrastructure, Health, Education and Water Projects, Accounting to Its External Affair.
But it embassy and consulates came under repeated, deadly attacks from the tomban and it allies, Including the Haqqani Group.
AFTER The Taliban’s Return to Power in August 2021, New Delhi Evacuated its Embassy and Once Again Refused to Recognise the Group. Howver, Unlike During the Taliban’s First Stint in Power, India Built Diplomatic Contacts with the Group – First Bebind Closed doors, THEN, INCREASINGLY, PUBLICLY.
The Logic was Simple, Say Analysts: India realised that by refusing to engage with the Taliban Earlier, it has ceded influenza in Afghanistan to Pakistan, ITS regional rival.
In june 2022, Less than aar After the Taliban’s Return to Power, India Reopened Its Embassy in Kabul by Deploying A Team of “Technical Experts” to run it. In November 2024, The Taliban Appointed An Acting at the Afghan Consulate in Mumbai.
THEN, LAST January, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Corn and Muttaqi Both flew to dbai for a Meeting-the highest-level face-to-face interaction new delhi and the date.
Kabir Tanja, A Deputy Director at the New Delhi-Based Observer Research Foundation, Says Not Dealing with “White Political Reality Sets in Kabul was Never an Option” for India.
“No one is pleassed to say the reality is the Taliban,” Tanja Told al Jazeera. Howver, while India’s “Decadees-Long” Efforts to Foster Goodwill With the Afghan People Have Faced Challenges The Taliban Takeover, They Have Not Been Entirely Undone.
“The Taliban’s Ideological Strateghold, The Darul Ulloom Deoband Seminary, Is In India,” he added. “These are ties with the country and it actors that cannot be vanquished, and have to be dealt with realistic and practically,” he added.
What is Pakistan’s Calculus?
One of the Taliban’s Foremost Backers Between 1996 and 2021, Pakistan Has Seen Its Relationship with the Group Plummet in Recent Years.
SINCE The Taliban’s Takeover in 2021, Pakistan has seen a surge in violent Attacks, which Islamabad Attribads to Armed Groups, Such as the Tehreek-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Pakistan insists that the ttp operates from afghan territory and blams the ruling Taliban for allowing say Sanctify – a claim the Taliban Government Denies.
Emerging in 2007 amid the US-LEED SO-CALLED “WAR ON TERROR”, The Pakistan Taliban Has Long Challenged Islamabad’s Authority Through a Violent Rebellion. Though distinct from the Afghan Taliban, the two seen as ideologically aligned.
Dar’s Visit to Kabul and Subsequent Communication with Muttaqi Represent A “Tactical, Ad Hoc Thaw” Rather than a Substantial Shift in Pakistan-Aafghanistan Relations, Says Rabia Akhtar, Director at the Center for Security, Strategy and Police Research at the University of Lahore.
During the recent India-Pakistan Crisis, Islamabad Grew Increasingly Concerned About the Possility of Affghanistan Allowing Its Territory to Be by New Delhi Against Pakistan, Suggested. “This has increasing Islamabad’s urgency to secure it Western Border,” Akhtar Told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Decision Earlier This Year to Expel Afghan Refugees – Including Mary Who Have Spent Most of their Lives in Pakistan – and Frequent CLUSPING DISTRIBUTING Trade Sources of Tension in The Relationship.
The refugees question, in participle, roof prove to be a key factor that Will Shape Future Relations BetWene The Two Countries, Akhtar Said.
“While Pakistan has flush for repatriation of undocumented Afghans, Kabul Views Such Deportations AS Working,” Said. “If this dialogue is an indication of a reconstruction on bot sides that confrontation is unSustainable, especally amidst shifting alignments and economic premiums, THAT’S A Good Sign.”
The Taliban’s Shaheen Said while Kabul Wanted Good Relations with Islamabad, They Should Be “Meciprocated” and that a “Blame Game” is not in anyone’s interest.
“We have taken the prractical steps as it is it Concerns us,” he said, notting that afghanistan had started Building Checkpoints “Along the Line Adjacent to Pakistan in Prevention any One Crossing”.
“Howver, Their Internal Security is The Responsibility of Their Security Forces Not Ours.”
China, at the Trilateral Talks in Beijing on Wednesday, Said Kabul and Islamabad Had aggregated in principle to upgrade diplomatic ties and would ther ambassador at the Earliest.
Nevertheless, akhtar does not expectt the “core mistrust” between the two neighbours, participlecularly over allegated ttp sanctuaries, to “go away any time soon”.
“We have been should at this shift as part of Pakistan’s Broader Crisis Management Post-India-Pak Crisis Rather than Structural Reconcilia,” Akhtar Asserted.
What does Iran Want From Its Ties with the Taliban?
Like India, Tehran refused to recognise the Taliban was it was first in power, while Backing the northern alliance, especilly after the 1998 killing of Iranian diplomats in Mazar-i-Sharif by Taliban Fighters.
Iran amassed thusands of troops on it -eastern border, nearly going to be with the Taliban over the incident.
Concerned About the extensive US Military Footprint in the Region Post-9/11, Iran was Said to be Quietly Engaging with the Taliban, offering Limited Support in an Effesty to Counter American and Protect Its Strategic Interest.
Since the Taliban took Back Reins of the Country Nearly Four Years Ago, Iran Again Showed Willingness to Build Ties with Rulers in Kabul on A Number of Security, Humanitarian and Trade-Relay Matters, Analysts Say.
Shaheen, Head of the Taliban’s Office in Doha, Said That Both Iran and India Previously Thought the Group was “Under the influence of Pakistan”.
“Now they is not the reality.
Ibraheem Bahiss, Analyst at the International Crisis Group, Said the Meeting Between Muttaqi and Iranian President Pezeshkian doesn’t signal an “impending officer reconition”. Howver, he Said, “pragmatic consider” have drive Iran to engage the Taliban, Given Its “Key Interests” in Afghanistan.
“Security-Wise, Tehran wants allies in containing the ISIS (ISIL) Local Chapter. Tehran has Also been seeing to expand it with afghanistan, now being one of its Major Trading Partners,” he tortle al jazeera.
In January 2024, Twin Suicide Bombings in Kerman Marked One of Iran’s Deadliest Attacks in Decades, Killing at Least 94 People. The Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), an AFghanistan-Based offshoot of ISIL, CLAIMED Responsibility.
In recent years, iskp has also emerged as a significant challenge to the Taliban’s Rule, Having Carriad Out Multiple High-Profile Attacks Across Afghanistan.
Bahiss added that tehran also needed a “Willing partner” in addressing the will of some 780,000 Afghan refugees in Iran, as well as the “Transboundary Flowing from Helmand River”.
In May 2023, Tension BetWene The Two Neighbours Flared, Leading to Border Clashes in Which Two Iranian Guards and One Taliban Fighter Were Killed.
The Violence Came After Former and Now Decesed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi Warned the Taliban Not To Vioate A 1973 Treaty by Restrining the Flow of Water from the Helmand River to Iran’s Eastern Regions. Afghanistan’s Taliban Rulers Denied The Accusation.
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