Doha talks

The situation vis-a-vis Afghanistan and the rest of the world remains pretty much unchanged after the third round of UN-led sponsored talks to integrate Afghanistan into the international community ended on Monday (July 1) in Doha, Qatar. Although this was the first time the Afghan Taliban, the group acting as the de-facto government of the country since the US withdrawal in August 2021, was present at this series of talks, they did not pledge to make any reforms on key points of contention such as the exclusion of women and girls from education and other areas of civil life. In turn, the international community did not make any concessions of its own. Full recognition remains a very distant prospect and the entire scenario is stuck at square one. The men who now form and lead the Afghan Taliban are famed for their resilience, having weathered two global superpowers and their local proxies to come out on top. One cannot count on them budging any time soon. That being said, it is hard to argue their intransigence is leading to any kind of freedom or liberation for their people. The restrictions on girls’ education, their access to public spaces and what they wear since the Afghan Taliban seized power are as puzzling as they are abhorrent.

Pretty much every other Muslim country in the world allows women and girls to get an education, though most are nowhere near where they should be in terms of gender parity, and this does not make them any less Muslim. The other major issue left unresolved is of course the issue of cross-border terrorism, one which has disproportionately affected Pakistan. What coverage there has been in the short while since the talks ended has not had much to say about this issue, at least not in international media. This goes a long way in showcasing Pakistan’s own isolation on the global stage, which is of a different kind to Afghanistan’s. The country may have the recognition (seat at the table) but seems to count for very little. Though the interim Afghan Taliban government did meet with Pakistani officials, including the special representative on Afghanistan, it is unclear what impact this will have on the cross-border terror menace facing Pakistan. This problem has strained relations between the two countries and similar meetings in the past have not yielded the desired results.

The meeting was also reportedly informed that 700,000 Afghans have fled to Pakistan since August 2021 and the Pakistan side highlighted the refugee issue and called for a conducive environment in Afghanistan for repatriation. Few, one would think, would want to return when the rights of all their children to an education and a better life are not secure. Nor is it clear how an economy can prosper under such conditions. Voluntary repatriation would seem as distant as recognition. All said, this is a tricky one: what to do given the fact that the Afghan Taliban refuse to budge on women’s parity and the international community refuses to budge on helping the Afghan people out?