The Taliban is like “burning pants” that cannot be taken off but are very uncomfortable.
Author: Fakhriddin Kholbek, member of the Sangar Advisory Council
Kazakhstan has decided to remove the Taliban from the list of banned organizations. The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Aibek Smadiyarov, in an interview with the Kazinform agency, said that this is due to the revision of the national list of prohibited terrorist organizations to update it.
“As part of this process, a decision was made to exclude the Taliban from it by UN practice. According to the UN Security Council resolutions, which are binding, the Taliban movement is not included in the lists of organizations recognized by the UN Security Council as terrorist,” he noted.
Further, on diplomatic contacts between Kazakhstan and the Taliban, he stated that Kazakhstan will continue to strictly adhere to the decisions and resolutions adopted by the Security Council and the UN General Assembly.
Kazakhstan's decision caused a big reaction, especially in the Afghan segment of the Internet. Some accuse the Kazakh authorities of supporting a terrorist group. But let’s say right away that this does not mean that Kazakhstan officially recognizes the power of the Taliban, and we are only talking about excluding the Taliban from the “black list” of terrorist organizations; Astana should not be accused of supporting terrorism.
What are we even talking about? What could all this mean?
Firstly, Kazakhstan is one of the trading partners of Afghanistan, now the Taliban government. Last year, trade turnover reached almost $1 billion, once more than in 2021. Afghanistan imports 70% of its flour from Kazakhstan. An argument will automatically appear: Kazakhstan is cooperating with the government of Afghanistan, be it Taliban or otherwise. On one side is trade, and on the other side are social issues - in Afghanistan, the social situation is truly complex, that is, we are talking about people who are suffering. Nothing special.
Secondly, Kazakhstan does not play a key role in the Afghan crisis. Both the domestic and foreign policies of the Taliban do not depend on him. There is no need to quarrel and there is nothing for it, but trade must be carried out. Astana believes that the Taliban will finally come to their senses, and it is better to bring them to their senses.
Thirdly, issues of terrorist threats and groups can be resolved within the framework of the CSTO. Kazakhs are well aware that their citizens occupy important positions in terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and ETIM. For example, the head of Al-Qaeda intelligence is a man nicknamed “Subhanullah,” a Kazakh. According to our information, he was one of the initiators of the January 2022 events.
Fourthly, the most important factor is Qatar, that is, the United States. We must not forget that Qatar’s policy on Afghanistan, and perhaps on Central Asia, is determined by the Americans, or rather, the CIA. This was confirmed by the Qatari Emir himself. Hence, when the office in Qatar is, de facto, the main center for determining the Taliban’s foreign policy, nothing is surprising. Considering the agreement on military cooperation between Qatar and Kazakhstan, we can conclude that the removal of the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations was not without the Americans. However, I think that the most important thing for Kazakhstan is economic cooperation and Qatari investments. Kazakhstan is a member of the CSTO, a military organization, policy, and path that does not coincide with Qatar and the United States at all.
All Central Asian countries cooperate with the Taliban, and this cooperation is primarily of a humanitarian and good-neighborly nature. In economic terms, there are no barriers to trade and economic relations between them and the Taliban, since we are not talking about the Taliban, but about the people of Afghanistan. Kazakhstan and other neighbors, such as Uzbekistan, do this too. But all of them, politically, demand one thing from the Taliban - to create an inclusive government, since otherwise Taliban has no future. Anyone who knows the history of Afghanistan, especially the last 50 years, will understand what we are talking about.
The Taliban are just one proxy group with medieval thinking, alien to the majority of Afghan society and the region. That's why the anti-Taliban opposition is growing stronger every year and there is no guarantee that the Taliban’s power will last long.
But, it seems to me, both the Taliban and the main players in the Afghan field, the United States and Russia, understood one thing - Afghanistan can survive and leave behind almost 50 years of war forever only by integrating into the region. Now the question is who will implement this project – the USA or Russia.
I hope that Kazakhstan is not playing in the American field since the United States has little chance of gaining a foothold in the region, and probably in the future, its presence will be reduced to a minimum. Now everything is heading towards this, of course, unless something happens to change the balance. The Central Asian countries, as they say, need to be in the right place at the right time.
We must never forget that the Taliban is like “burning pants”, which cannot be taken off but are very uncomfortable. Hence, you should be careful with them.
