Former Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan: 'International non-recognition of the next [Taliban] government can be a bigger challenge than it was in 1996”
The Taliban’s August 15 seizure of power in Kabul has created a new political order in Afghanistan. The Taliban has reconstructed the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, while pledging to respect human rights and rescind its links to transnational terrorist groups.
Earlier this week, I interviewed Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistan’s Finance Minister from 2009-2015 and ambassador to Pakistan from 2016-2018. Since 2019, Zakhilwal has been an active player at the highest levels of intra-Afghan diplomacy. Our interview addressed how the Taliban might govern Afghanistan and what its foreign policy might look like.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Hassan Akhund’s appointment as Acting Prime Minister alongside other old guard figures has raised concerns that the Taliban’s rule will be characterised by a throwback to the extremism of the past. Thein the Taliban’s coalition, which is all-male and drawn mostly from the Pashtun ethnic group, has augmented these fears.
“There are incidents of ill-treatment here and there but those are more the exception than the norm at least for now.”
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