West apprehensive about Taliban despite promises of reassurance

Mustafa Kamel

Despite the recent messages sent by the Taliban after its takeover of Afghanistan to reassure those inside and outside the country by making several promises, as it confirmed that it would work to secure citizens and diplomatic missions and would not seek revenge against former soldiers and members of the Western-backed government, the G7 set several conditions for recognition of the movement to obtain global recognition.

The G7 warned the Taliban to meet these demands or else be ostracized by society, which comes at a time when the Western powers have not yet decided the nature of the relations they will establish with the extremist movement and are still confused about their future dealings with it.

Conditions for recognition

The G7, which consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, set five conditions for recognizing the Taliban, stressing that the movement must abide by the conditions to obtain global recognition and that the statements of moderation made by the movement are worthless if they don’t actually act upon what they say.

During an interview with the French news network BFMTV, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that the Afghan movement is making many efforts in an attempt to obtain international recognition, but it is not enough to issue statements that we read here and there regarding respect for women’s rights, but rather actions are required.

Le Drian revealed the five conditions that the Taliban must abide by in order to be recognized internationally, foremost of which is that they allow the exit of Afghans who want to leave the country because they are afraid, and they must also prevent their country from becoming a haven for terrorism and must prove this in a very concrete way.

Regarding the rest of the conditions to ensure international recognition, the minister stressed that the movement must allow humanitarian aid to reach Afghan lands, and the movement must also respect rights, especially women’s rights. He noted that they declare this, but added that they must fulfill their promise.

Finally, according to Le Drian, it is imperative for the Taliban to form a transitional government, stressing that the fulfillment of these conditions by the movement would lead to its international recognition.

“These are the conditions for obtaining international recognition. Then we will see. But at the moment, they must take these measures, as they have not yet been achieved,” he said, warning the Taliban that if these demands were not implemented, the movement would be shunned by the international community.

We have not made up our minds

On the other hand, the Western powers have not yet decided the nature of the relations they will establish with the Taliban, despite the movement’s initiative to send signals to the international community presenting itself as being more open than before. Despite the United States’ delay in this matter, the European Union has expressed its willingness to talk to the movement since it won the war.

EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell admitted the matter frankly, saying, “The Taliban won the war in Afghanistan, so we have to talk to them. We have done a lot to build a state in Afghanistan and protect minorities,” stressing the need to communicate with the Taliban even if it is not recognized.

While the United States negotiates with the Taliban about the timetable for the evacuations, the White House has asserted that it will wait to judge the movement’s actions, especially regarding respect for human rights, before deciding on the nature of future relations with it.

“The Taliban will have to show the rest of the world who they are,” said US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, adding, “The assessment is not good, but it would be premature to say from now what the situation will be in the future.”

While the United Kingdom followed suit just as the United States did in the decision to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, Prime Minister Boris Johnson asserted that his country would judge the Taliban regime based on its actions rather than its words.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab emphasized that London of course would not work with the movement, but he said that with the ongoing negotiations to find a government more representative of Afghan society, “We want to assess whether there is a possibility to modify the type of system that we will see in place. They are now in power and we have to deal with this reality.”