Western powers placed financial sanctions on Afghanistan aftermath the Taliban takeover of the country. The new Afghan state, which needed so much support to stand on its feet only woke up to see an unpalatable historic embargo by Western States.
The situation has been described by The UN envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons as leading to a humanitarian catastrophe for the Afghan people.
Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Farah, capital of Farah province, southwest Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021. Afghan officials say three more provincial capitals have fallen to the Taliban, putting nine out of the country’s 34 in the insurgents’ hands amid the U.S. withdrawal. The officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the capitals of Badakhshan, Baghlan and Farah provinces all fell. (AP Photo/Mohammad Asif Khan)
According to the United Nations, over 60 percent of Afghanistan’s 38 million people are facing crisis levels of hunger in a food emergency that will likely worsen over the winter.
It is remembered that right after the Taliban battlefield victory over the US- supported Afghan government, the Taliban administration was urged by many Western Countries on many issues of concern including calling for the restoration of rights for women and girls and ethnic minorities and for a more inclusive administration.
Whilst these concerns are necessary ideals needed to be taken serious by the Taliban government, any attempt to rush for their implementation by the use of the “stick’ instead of the ‘carrot’ would lead to unpalatable consequences for the ordinary Afghan.
The power of diplomacy could have been implored coupled with financial cooperation and support to get the Taliban government assimilate these best governance practices that is suitable for the transformation of the Afghans. Anything short of that is an attempt to get Afghans pay twice for the actions and inactions of the Taliban government.
It is unthinkable to claim that the Taliban had not accepted the concerns raised by the international community and were not ready to address them.
What is missing however, is the platform needed to address these concerns. appropriate measures could have been put in place through diplomatic channels to ensure the Taliban government was doing the right thing for Afghans.
However, as it stands now, the Taliban government have been denied the opportunity. The Taliban government till the time of this publicationhas not been recognized by any country or the United Nations.
Again, Afghanistan’s UN seat is still held by the representative of the previous government, Ambassador Ghulam Isaczai. The Reauters earlier on reported the Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid calling on the United States and other countries to recognize their government in Afghanistan, saying that a failure to do so and the continued freezing of Afghan funds abroad would lead to problems not only for the country but for the world.
It is pertinent to state that problems anywhere on the planet is a problem everywhere on it, hence, it is prudent to stand against problem anywhere. Continued freezing of Afghanistan funds abroad could only lead to a failed state, which easily becomes a haven for terrorism due to the creation of power vacuums resulting out of the inability of governments to effectively govern.
The ordeals Afghans and the region are exposed to resulting out of the man-made crisis, which according to Deborah Lyon, is preventable, speaks volumes of the fact that this is not the time to turn away from Afghanistan. It is the time for solidarity and cooperation.
The Author is an Islamic Scholar,
An expert in International Relations.
@The Muslim Network.
By Yahya Tuntunba.
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