UN Report Shows Militants Holding Firm In Afghanistan; Time to Rethink Isolation StrategyAmerica and its NATO allies evacuated tens of thousands of educated and trained women and men and to the rest of Afghanistan’s 42 million people it was “goodbye, good luck, we’re moving to Doha".
It’s time for Washington and its western allies to change their Afghanistan strategy. It’s not working. It’s not helping Afghans, the region or the larger international community. It’s time to return to Afghanistan. Another day, anther year, and another piece of evidence emerges that Washington’s strategy of isolating Afghanistan’s Taliban, while dangling a promise of recognition, is failing. This time it’s a newly released U.N. report that raises the alarm about the stubborn militant activity in Afghanistan, a worry for its rulers, the region and the broader world.Pledge your support Women and girls are no better off, and in all cases they are worse off than they were in the months following the Talban’s 2021 return to Kabul that brought to an end the failed U.S.-led invasion of 20 years. Then America and its NATO allies evacuated tens of thousands of women and men, mostly the educated and trained, and to the rest of Afghanistan’s 42 million people it was “goodbye, good luck, we’re moving to Doha.” Nearly five years on and the U.N. says militant roots in Afghanistan remain strong, as Kabul teeters on the brink of all out war with its neighbor Pakistan. Girls beyond Grade 6 are not in school and women are struggling against each new edict that seeks to make them invisible. Demanding change by dangling the promise of recognition has thus far been a bust, just as it was when the Taliban were first in power between 1996 and 2001. Then. like now, the United States and much of the world, led by the West, isolated the country’s rulers, imposing sanctions and demanding change. The changes didn’t happen but 9/11 did. Ungoverned areas, already hosting militant groups such as Al Qaida __ who were well-established prior to the Taliban’s 1996 takeover __ continued to expand. As these spaces increased, additional militant organizations arrived in the country. This development did not bode well for Afghanistan, the region, and the international community. Bin Laden’s al Qaeda, which had previously allied itself with the Taliban’s adversaries prior to their rise to power, gradually increased its influence with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the movement’s founder and unchallenged ruler. Facing sanctions and international isolation, Omar had limited options, ultimately leading his defense ministry to depend almost entirely on al Qaeda funding. In the absence of other external actors, bin Laden and his associates found an environment conducive to planning and executing the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Come 2021 and the return of the Taliban, the United States and pretty much the rest of the world adopted the same strategy of isolation that failed so miserably in 1996, contributed to the 9/11 attacks, did nothing in five years to reverse the Taliban’s regressive rules restricting women and girls and led to a proliferation of militant groups. History and its lessons seem lost on U.S. strategists sitting in Washington and comfortably in Doha. The failing strategy is again evident in the United Nations release this month of the sixteenth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team . The report charts militant activity in Afghanistan. The report says more than 20 “international and regional terrorist organizations are operating in Afghanistan,” most of whom were already there, some are expanding and none are disappearing They are known by numerous baffling acronyms and their deadly abilities are rattling the region and beyond. The Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) has been linked to failed plots in Europe. The Afghan rulers have had some success restricting their activities in Afghanistan, but a recruitment drive added about 600 new members to their ranks from Central Asian States, says the U.N. report. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have carried out brutal assaults in Pakistan, mostly directed against military outposts and driving the two uneasy neighbors to the brink of all out war. The report says the TTP also has increasing ties to a down, but not out, Al Qaeda in the Subcontinent (AQIS). The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) takes aim at Central Asian states and Russia and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is an enemy of China. The list goes on. Meanwhile dangling the promise of recognition has done nothing to ease the mindboggling restrictions on women and girls by Afghanistan’s rulers . Quite the opposite. Repressive edicts most often directed at women and girls have proliferated and the rigidity that characterized the Taliban’s first rule, and which was not immediately evident upon their return in 2021, is in full bloom in 2025. It’s difficult to unpack Washington’s thinking these days but perhaps America and its Western allies’ are assuming divisions within the Taliban leadership is indicative of progress. However, this approach underestimates or willfully disregards the reality that, despite individual disagreements and internal differences, unity of the Taliban movement remains a fundamental principle, to which all members pledge allegiance. Additionally while certain powerful Taliban commanders may disagree with Supreme Leader Mullah Hibaitullah Akhunzada in Kandahar, these dissenters are themselves divided, with some holding strong mutual animosities. To knowingly and intentionally wait for a reason for another military intervention, which some among America’s former Afghan allies would want and have quietly advocated, would be unforgivable and an act of brutality upon a nation already crippled from decades of war. This is not an argument for recognition. It is an argument for a reopening of embassies, for returning to Afghanistan and to Afghanistan’ 42 million people; to recognize history’s lessons and consider there might be answers that help Afghans move forward inside Afghanistan. Living and working among Afghans, opens doors and opens eyes. Currently there are 24 embassies open in Afghanistan and the only recognition thus far is from Russia. The others simply have a diplomatic presence which is separate under international law. The reestablishment of US and Western embassies in Afghanistan is important because it empowers Afghans. This isn’t about wanting foreign intervention again. Absolutely not. Rather it is about helping Afghans feel connected to the broader world. Such engagement brings hope to many women and men in Afghanistan who are working quietly to improve their own lives and the lives of others. Hope can be a powerful catalyst for change.
.https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n25/317/31/pdf/n2531731.pdf Pledge your support |