High time for action

Afghanistan nine months later

There is no peace in Afghanistan after the Taliban took power. This could have devastating consequences for the West. If we do not want to leave the field to China and Russia, we must change our strategy.

Text Waslat Hasrat-Nazimi, DW Head of Dari and Pashto Service

The radical Islamist Taliban have been in power in Afghanistan for just under nine months now. In this time, they have managed to erase all the progress made in the last 20 years. Democracy, rule of law, human rights and women’s rights. All of that no longer exists. Ever since Afghan girls were banned from going to school, it should have become clear to everyone that today’s Taliban are the same Taliban of the 1990s.

The Taliban cannot represent Afghanistan and its people.

What does this mean for the people of Afghanistan now? Due to the desolate economic situation, the majority of the Afghan population is suffering from a devastating hunger crisis that has already claimed thousands of victims. Less than a year after the takeover and the withdrawal of NATO troops, women have been completely pushed out of the public sphere. Not only have women been banned from the majority of professions, they must now completely veil themselves — even on television. Repression, torture and even murder of journalists restrict the media massively. Editorial content is heavily censored and newspapers are not allowed to print human images. There is no freedom of the press. Members of the Hazara ethnic group and Shiites are persecuted and targeted. In addition, the Taliban are unable to guarantee security in the country. During the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, ISIS-K, an offshoot of Daesh, attacked several Shia religious sites and neighborhoods where Hazara predominantly live. Previously, the Taliban had claimed that that would be the first peaceful Ramadan in 20 years.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on May 7, 2022 ordered all Afghan women to wear head-to-toe clothing in public — a sharp, hard-line pivot thatconfirmed the worst fears of rights activists and was bound to furthercomplicate Taliban dealings with an already distrustful internationalcommunity.

But the end of Ramadan also turned into a bitter disappointment for Afghans. Every year after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, Muslims around the world celebrate Eid-ul Fitr — also called Eid, which some countries do not celebrate on the same day. Normally, Afghanistan, like most Muslim countries, follows Saudi Arabia. But not this year. The Taliban proclaimed the end of Ramadan a day before Saudi Arabia did. They had sighted the moon in several Afghan cities, they announced. This was an unprecedented situation for the population, some of whom continued to fast in confusion and refused to comply with the Taliban. However, according to reports from several cities in Afghanistan, the Taliban forced people to break their fast and celebrate Eid against their wishes. A blatant invasion of privacy and desecration of one of the most important holidays in Afghanistan. The Taliban cannot represent Afghanistan and its people. They merely represent their own ideology, which has little to do with the Islam that is practiced in Afghanistan, and they are willing to impose this ideology by force.

Nine months after the Taliban retook power, we know that the previous violence has only been replaced by new violence.

It is not enough to say that there was no other solution, and that the Afghan people supported the Taliban seizure of power. Did the majority of Afghans demand an end to a NATO presence and thus an end to bloody fighting, drone attacks, night raids and arbitrary arrests? Yes. Has that come to pass? Nine months after the Taliban retook power, we know that the previous violence has only been replaced by new violence. The hope for peace has not materialized. Instead, Afghanistan could once again become a haven for terrorist organizations like ISIS. This can have devastating consequences. Moreover, the majority of Afghans already want to leave the country, so new migration flows from Afghanistan can be expected to form.

Afghan girls participate in a lesson at Tajrobawai Girls High School in Herat, Afghanistan on November 25, 2021. In a surprise decision thehardline leadership of Afghanistan’s new rulers has decided againstopening educational institutions to girls beyond Grade six, a Talibanofficial said Wednesday, March 23, 2022 on the first day ofAfghanistan’s new school year.

The West must realize that its previous strategy in dealing with the Taliban has not worked. Disappointed by a lack of international recognition, the Taliban have turned to Russia and China, which have welcomed them with open arms. Neighboring Pakistan has always funded the Taliban. If the West wants to stick to its promise and not leave Afghanistan alone, it is time to act and put more pressure on the Taliban, including sanctions specifically targeting Taliban leaders. Financial and military support for the Taliban from neighboring Pakistan must be stopped. If Western nations do not take action now, not only will history repeat the Taliban takeover, but so will the terror that followed.

Waslat Hasrat-Nazimi

is Head of DW Dari and Pashto Service. Born in Afghanistan, Waslat emigrated with her family to Germany as a child and today she considers both countries to be home. Her journalistic work in Germany and Afghanistan along with her own story of integration helps her to build understanding between cultures.