To date, their efforts to win recognition and support from Western nations have floundered.
To date, their efforts to win recognition and support from Western nations have floundered.
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers are sustaining shut ties with al-Qaida as they consolidate management over the nation, and their primary navy menace is coming from the Islamic State extremist group and guerrilla-style assaults by former Afghan authorities safety personnel, UN consultants mentioned in a brand new report.
The consultants mentioned within the report back to the UN Security Council that with the onset of higher climate, combating could escalate as each Islamic State and resistance forces undertake operations in opposition to Taliban forces.
But neither IS nor Al-Qaida “is believed to be capable of mounting international attacks before 2023 at the earliest, regardless of their intent or of whether the Taliban acts to restrain them,” the panel of consultants mentioned.
Nonetheless, it mentioned the presence of IS, Al-Qaida, and “many other terrorist groups and fighters on Afghan soil” is elevating considerations in neighboring international locations and the broader worldwide neighborhood.
Since their takeover of Afghanistan on final August 15 because the U.S. and NATO forces had been within the remaining phases of their chaotic withdrawal from the nation after 20 years, the Taliban “have favoured loyalty and seniority over competence, and their decision-making has been opaque and inconsistent,” the consultants mentioned.
In the report obtained on Thursday, the panel monitoring sanctions in opposition to the Taliban mentioned its leaders have appointed 41 males on the UN sanctions blacklist to the Cabinet and senior positions, they usually have favoured the nation’s dominant Pashtun ethnic group, alienating minority communities together with ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks.
The Taliban’s major concern has been to consolidate management “while seeking international recognition, to re-engage with the international financial system and to receive aid in order to deal with the growing economic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan,” the consultants mentioned.
“Since taking power, however, there have been many factors creating internal tensions within the movement, leading to perceptions that the Taliban’s governance has been chaotic, disjointed and prone to reversing policies and going back on promises.,” they said.
As the Taliban struggle to transition from an insurgency to a governing body, they have been divided between pragmatists and hardliners who have gained the upper hand and want to turn the clock back to the group’s harsh rule from 1996 until December 2001, when they were ousted from power by U.S. forces following the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
To date, their efforts to win recognition and aid from Western nations have floundered, largely because they have not formed a more representative government, and have restricted the rights of girls to education beyond elementary school, and of women to work and travel without a male relative’s oversight.
“The central dilemma is how a movement with an inflexible ideology can engage with a society that has evolved during the past 20 years,” the consultants mentioned. “Further stresses revolve around power, resources, and regional and ethnic divisions.”
Despite these severe points, the panel mentioned the Taliban “appear confident in their ability to control the country and ‘wait out’ the international community to obtain eventual recognition of their government.”
“They assess that, even if they make no significant concessions, the international community will ultimately recognise them as the government of Afghanistan, especially in the absence of a government in exile or significant internal resistance,” the consultants mentioned.
So far, not a single nation has formally recognised the Taliban, and there’s rising worldwide anger at its remedy of women and girls and its failure to maintain its promise of forming an inclusive authorities. There are additionally considerations concerning the Taliban’s incapability to maintain its promise to not permit terrorist teams to function in Afghanistan.
The panel mentioned the Haqqani Network, a militant Islamist group with shut ties to the Taliban, moved rapidly after their takeover to realize management of key portfolios and ministries together with inside, intelligence, passports and migration. It now “largely controls security in Afghanistan, including the security of the capital, Kabul,” the consultants mentioned.
“The Haqqani Network is still regarded as having the closest links to Al-Qaida,” the panel mentioned, and the connection between the Taliban and Al-Qaida additionally stays shut. The consultants pointed to the reported presence of Al-Qaida’s “core leadership” in jap Afghanistan together with its chief Ayman al-Zawahri.
To counter the Islamic State, the report quoted an unidentified nation as saying the Taliban have created three battalions of particular forces known as “red units.”
The emergence of the National Resistance Front and Afghanistan Freedom Front comprising former Afghan safety personnel “has led the Taliban to adopt aggressive measures against populations suspected of supporting anti-Taliban operations,” the panel mentioned.
In April, it mentioned National Resistance Front forces stepped up operations in Badakhshan, Baghlan, Jowzjan, Kunduz, Panjshir, Takhar and Samangan provinces.
The Afghan Freedom Front, which solely emerged lately, “has also claimed several attacks on Taliban bases in Badakhshan, Kandahar, Parwan and Samangan,” the consultants mentioned.
“Taliban forces may be hard pressed to counter several insurgencies simultaneously,” they mentioned.
Source: www.thehindu.com
