Protests Challenge Taliban Rule

Here is today’s Foreign Policy brief: Protests against Taliban rule bubble up in Afghanistan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets Russian President Vladimir Putin for the last time in Moscow, and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris embarks on a weeklong trip to Southeast Asia.

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Protests against Taliban rule in Afghanistan spread to several cities ahead of the first Friday prayers since the militant group took control last Sunday. In Kabul, around 200 people gathered at one protest on Thursday, the country’s independence day, before Taliban fighters dispersed them violently. Several people were killed in Asadabad after the Taliban fired on a crowd waving Afghan flags, and the group announced a curfew in Khost after demonstrations there.

The small but defiant protests signal the challenges the Taliban may face in governing the country, even as tens of thousands of Afghans have sought to flee, fearing a return to the draconian rule of the late 1990s. The militants have called for unity—and urged imams to do so on Friday—amid the scramble for the exits. But the Taliban may have trouble tamping down on dissent, particularly in the case of a humanitarian crisis. (The United Nations has already warned of food shortages.)

Two Talibans. The Taliban could also face a challenge from within. The gap between the group’s top leadership, who have spent years abroad, and the fighters now charged with keeping order in Kabul and beyond is vast, as FP’s Anchal Vohra writes. Taliban leadership has engaged in a public relations exercise in a quest for internal and external legitimacy, but tensions over this approach and any concessions to the West remain unresolved, from allowing certain social freedoms to holding elections.

Will the Taliban keep their word? In an interview with ABC on Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden said the Taliban must decide quickly whether they want international recognition. But the question of whether the Taliban can be trusted to keep its promises depends on who it’s made promises to, Anatol Lieven argues in Foreign Policy. Taliban pledges not to sponsor international jihadism have been “unequivocal,” he writes—and they have repeated this promise to all of their neighbors.

“It is a very different matter, however, when it comes to Afghan promises concerning the rights of Afghan citizens,” Lieven writes. Although the Taliban have projected a more moderate stance to the outside world, intelligence reports indicate they have already begun rounding up Afghans on a blacklist that includes people who have worked with the previous administration or with U.S.-led forces. Afghan journalists have expressed doubt about a Taliban pledge to allow a free press after attacks and raids.

Ultimately, much remains unknown about how the Taliban will govern Afghanistan as a whole and Kabul in particular. Their response to early protests and dissent could offer a clue.

Merkel-Putin meeting. German Chancellor Angela Merkel travels to Moscow today to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, likely for the last time. The two leaders are expected to discuss the security situation in Afghanistan as well as the conflict in eastern Ukraine. (Merkel will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday.) The German chancellor is not seeking a fifth term in this year’s elections, set for Sept. 26.

Relations between Germany and Russia have become strained in recent years, including after last year’s poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Merkel’s government did back Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline despite opposition in Washington. Today’s visit marks Merkel’s first trip to Moscow since January 2020, though the two leaders have spoken on the phone.

Harris heads to Asia. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris departs today for a weeklong trip to Singapore and Vietnam, part of an effort to boost U.S. engagement in Southeast Asia—and counter China’s influence. Harris is expected to emphasize expanding security, economic, and climate cooperation as well as promoting a “rules-based international order”—particularly in the disputed South China Sea.

Harris’s visit comes after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s trip to Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and it marks the vice president’s first major public engagement in the region.

Malaysia’s next prime minister. Malaysia’s longest-ruling party looks set to return to power if former Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is confirmed as the new premier. Muhyiddin Yassin resigned as prime minister on Monday after just 17 months in office, having lost coalition support. Ismail Sabri’s United Malays National Organisation party had dominated Malaysian politics since 1957 until suffering a surprising 2018 defeat that came on the heels of a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal.

Australia’s COVID-19 outbreak. Australia recorded its biggest-ever single day COVID-19 caseload, with 754 new cases on Thursday—a drop in the bucket in the United States but a significant number in a country that has kept its national borders closed throughout the coronavirus pandemic, stranding its own citizens. The delta variant outbreak has surged in Sydney, where officials expect to ramp up vaccinations among those under age 40 in the coming weeks.

Aid arrives in desperate Haiti. Relief for the victims of Haiti’s double disaster—a major earthquake followed by a tropical storm—began trickling in on Thursday, but the country still faces major challenges when it comes to distributing food and medical care. The kidnapping of two doctors from a hospital in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where many of the injured were being sent, has made matters worse. The hospital has closed for two days in protest.

Swedish furniture giant Ikea has announced plans to eventually change the distinctive layout of its stores, inviting customers to become “part of the furniture,” rather than following arrows down a decades-old winding route that leads to the checkout area. The revamped stores will encourage customers to participate in activities and workshops aimed at sustainable living—a move that could draw accusations of greenwashing from critics. (Ikea uses 1 percent of the world’s lumber, some of it allegedly illegally sourced.)

Ikea plans to trial the new layout in Shanghai, bringing the model to London and Vienna later this year.

Correction, Aug. 22, 2021: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is not seeking a fifth term in this year’s elections. A previous version of this article misstated how many terms she has served.