Afghanistan is facing a looming economic meltdown and humanitarian catastrophe in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover.
Billions of dollars’ worth of the country’s assets abroad, mostly in the US, have been frozen and international funding to the country has ceased.
The world is also waiting before extending any formal recognition to the new rulers in Kabul, wary the Taliban could impose a similarly harsh regime as when they were in power 20 years ago despite their assurances to the contrary.
Yet four months into Taliban rule, girls are not allowed to attend high school in most provinces and though women have returned to their jobs in much of the health care sector, many female civil servants have been barred from coming to work. The World Health Organisation and UN agencies have warned of the humanitarian crisis facing Afghanistan and its 38 million people.
Hospitals are desperately short of medicines, up to 95 per cent of all households face food shortages, the poverty level is soaring toward 90 per cent and the Afghani, the national currency, is in free fall.
However, Afghanistan’s Taliban-appointed Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said that Afghanistan’s new rulers were committed to the education of girls and women in the workforce. On the other hand, Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Wilson center, said OIC nations could do more, suggesting they work through their religious scholars and have them interact directly with the Taliban. For now, it would be difficult for the West to engage with the Taliban, Kugelman said, adding that such an interaction would be tantamount to admitting defeat in the 20-year war.
For the Taliban, it would be the final satisfaction of being able to engage … from the standpoint of victor, he said. The Taliban defeated the West … their powerful militaries and caused them to suffer through a chaotic and humiliating final withdrawal, he said. For the West to turn around and bury the hatchet with the Taliban, this would amount to a legitimisation of its defeat.