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This week, the Afghan Taliban announced their newly formed interim government team. Unsurprisingly, as a government that obtained power not through elections but through armed forces, this government team has certainly not received much in the international community. The requirements for an inclusive government that the society calls for are objectively far different; secondly, many of them have been or are being sanctioned and wanted by the United Nations and the United States; thirdly, they are the least controversial and widely criticized by the international community, namely There are no women in the government. Compared with the 20 years when the United States controlled Afghanistan and the 10 years when the Soviet Red Army controlled Afghanistan, this is a huge retrogression in the development of Afghan society.
Of course, all government posts announced by the current Afghan interim government are preceded by the word “generation”, which reflects the political maturity of the Taliban today. However, the degree of social progress determines the degree of political tolerance, so the positive connotation that the word “generation” should show is very limited.
The above-mentioned problems alone constitute a potentially huge obstacle for China to achieve its policy goals against the Taliban. China’s most basic policy goal for the Taliban is: not to allow Afghanistan to become a base for separatist forces in China’s Xinjiang; not to undermine the smooth implementation of China’s “One Belt, One Road” policy. The above facts make it difficult to determine all of this.
The Taliban government is difficult to legalize
As far as the reality of the Taliban is concerned, the new Taliban government and its policies are difficult to accept by the international community. In view of the historical baggage of the Taliban, if it cannot be recognized by the United Nations and the international community, China’s development of bilateral relations with it will be greatly restricted; and when the Afghan government faces a crisis of regime survival, Afghanistan and its surrounding regions, including China, will be greatly restricted. The prospects will become highly uncertain.
The new Taliban government and its announced policies are obviously far from the expectations of the international community and the Taliban’s recent commitments.
First of all, the first problem is that in the composition of the new Taliban government, almost all of them are Taliban personnel, not including other political factions and social forces in the country. The expectation of the international community, including the Chinese government, is that Afghanistan should form an “inclusive” government in the future, and the Taliban themselves announced this to the international community not long ago.
Consistent with the single members of the Taliban government, some of the senior officials of the new Taliban government are being wanted and sanctioned by the United States and the United Nations. The US CNN report said: The Taliban announced the formation of a tough Afghan interim government, with senior veterans of the militant organization responsible for overseeing the 20-year attack against the US-led military alliance.
According to reports, in the new government, Acting Prime Minister Ahund was sanctioned by the United Nations; Interior Secretary Rajuddin Haqqani was the most wanted criminal of the US FBA, with a reward of 10 million US dollars; his uncle Khalil Haqqani Serving as Minister of Refugee Affairs, he was also wanted for a reward of 5 million U.S. dollars; in addition, four senior officials of the new government were detained in Guantanamo by the United States.
It is precisely because of this composition of anti-US personnel that Bloomberg News reported that US President Biden made it clear on September 6 that in terms of recognizing the Taliban regime, “it is still far, far away.”
In addition, there is not a single female member in the new government with regard to the women’s policy that is the most important indicator for the new government. Not long ago, the Taliban publicly emphasized the need to play the role of Afghan women and called on women to return to the office to work. As a result, the promise was not fulfilled, and they have recently asked women to stay at home. It can be said that because of the mistakes in the too iconic women’s policy, the chance of the new Taliban government gaining international recognition is not optimistic, at least for now.
Another problem of the new Taliban government is that a series of existing United Nations resolutions restrict its international recognition.