Russia, China and the Gulf – who has recognised the Taliban, why do most countries still consider it a terrorist organisation?

The situation in Kabul has been getting worse since the Taliban came to power. Currently, more than 90% of Afghans are struggling with poverty. Due to Islamic law, women are forced to stay at home. The Taliban government itself is in no less trouble. Due to extremism, no country is ready to accept it as the official government of Kabul. But does it make any difference!

In Pashto, students are called Taliban. In the nineties, when Russia was withdrawing its soldiers from Afghanistan, this organization started taking shape. It started in religious institutions. Under this, extremist beliefs started being propagated. Soon its influence increased and in 1996, this organization captured Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. From here, extremist forces started ruling the country. They asked women to wear burqa and not to leave the house without men. Islamic laws were implemented so strictly that even music was banned.

During this period of fanaticism, countries started labelling the Taliban as a terrorist organisation because they were spreading their fanaticism even to the borders of other countries. During the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, only three countries recognised it – Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan. All three are Muslim majority countries.

Between October 2001 and December, the US forces had almost destroyed the Taliban, but the sparks kept spreading within. The result was that exactly twenty years later, this terror group returned to Kabul once again. This time it toppled the elected government. This month, the Taliban rule has completed three years, but the country is not ready to give political recognition to this organization.

Amid rising cases of violence against human rights, especially against women and girls, all countries hurriedly closed their embassies in Afghanistan. They also refused to recognise the Taliban as the natural rulers of the country. But what are the disadvantages of this?

The entire country is suffering the consequences of not getting recognition for the Taliban. It will not get any help from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) until it gets official status. The IMF cancelled all the funds set for the country. Many western countries including the US were giving the highest loans to Afghanistan. That too was stopped.

There is no sure source for this. Last year, US intelligence had alleged that the Taliban was creating fake NGOs and extorting money through them. The US Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) alleged that the Taliban had set up several NGOs for education and medical help. They take international aid, but do not deliver it to the needy.

Private American companies are donating According to SIGAR, America itself has donated $185 million to the Taliban in the name of education since its arrival. This is happening when most countries, including America, have reportedly not recognized the Taliban.

Recognition or giving official status is the condition in which two countries accept each other. After this, they can maintain economic and political relations. Both have embassies and the people posted there also get diplomatic immunity. Only after this, international loans can be obtained.

Usually the supreme leader of any country decides this with his colleagues. But this process is not easy. It has to be seen whether the new power has come into power through violence or not, or in what legal manner. Along with this, foreign policy also has to be looked at. For example, if India accepts the Taliban, will the neighbouring countries get angry with it, or will its ambassadors come to the country and start spying. This is decided only after looking at all the aspects.

Despite the Taliban’s extremism, many countries are building diplomatic relations with Kabul. According to Radio Free Europe, in April this year, Russia handed over the Afghan embassy in Moscow to the Taliban. The very next month, Russian President Vladimir Putin talked about removing the Taliban from the list of terrorist groups and said that Moscow should maintain good relations with this group.

In January this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping recognized a Taliban official stationed in Beijing as the Afghan ambassador. This made the Taliban representatives in China’s Afghanistan embassy. Although Beijing has not yet publicly called the Taliban the legitimate government of Afghanistan, it has definitely said that the Taliban should not be cut off from the international community.

Apart from these, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Gulf countries have also accepted it to a great extent. They also help it financially. However, it is not clear whether all these countries have officially maintained diplomatic relations with it. For example, Saudi Arabia established the Organization of Islamic Countries Mission in Kabul after the arrival of the Taliban, but it is not clear whether the Taliban has control over all diplomatic missions in this oil country.