How to Deal With the Taliban
Inside the debate over whether the West should engage the regime.
Since the fall of Kabul in 2021, the international community has struggled to form a coherent approach to the Taliban, particularly as Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis has worsened. As countries have tiptoed around engagement, politicians, analysts, and Afghans have asked: Should the West engage the regime at all? And if so, how?
Since the fall of Kabul in 2021, the international community has struggled to form a coherent approach to the Taliban, particularly as Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis has worsened. As countries have tiptoed around engagement, politicians, analysts, and Afghans have asked: Should the West engage the regime at all? And if so, how?
In this edition of Flash Points, we explore the complexities of this debate as it pertains to international aid, Afghanistan’s foreign reserves, and, perhaps most controversially, diplomatic recognition.—Chloe Hadavas
Mahbouba Seraj, a journalist and women’s rights activist, poses for a portrait in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 23, 2021. MARCUS YAM/LOS ANGELES TIMES
A Nobel Nominee’s Controversial Call for Engagement With the Taliban
Mahbouba Seraj, a rights activist and nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, says there’s no choice now but to talk to Afghanistan’s new rulers, FP’s Lynne O’Donnell writes.
Afghan laborers push a wheelbarrow loaded with food aid at a gymnasium in Kabul on Jan. 17. Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images
To Help Afghanistan, Engage Its Political Opposition
The Taliban’s rule isn’t inevitable or forever, Richard Fontaine and Lisa Curtis write.
Afghan money changers calculate at the currency exchange Sarayee Shahzada market in Kabul on June 29, 2015. WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images
Don’t Release Foreign Reserves to the Taliban
Unfreezing billions of dollars while huge revenues flow to Kabul risks legitimizing an extremist regime, Sarajuddin Isar writes.
Afghan money exchangers wait for customers along a street near the currency exchange market in Kabul on May 15.Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images
How Afghanistan’s Money Exchangers Have Worked Around the Taliban
They are, increasingly, the only financial link that connects the country to the rest of the world, Nafay Choudhury writes.
Afghan boys stand in a queue as they wait to receive food aid from a nongovernmental organization in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Jan. 3. WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images
The Taliban Are Losing Some of Their Cash Cows
The U.S. and U.N. are halting aid as the Taliban ratchet up their atrocities, FP’s Lynne O’Donnell writes.
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