The UN was one of the leading promoters of the DOHA peace process between the Afghan Government and the Taliban. The main idea of the DOHA process was to find an optimum agreement between the Taliban and the Afghan Government. But somehow, the DOHA process ended up capturing the Taliban entire Afghanistan in August 2021. Right after that, the Taliban announced the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan Government which is ruled based on Sharia law.
The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan between 1995 and 2001, so-called based on Sharia law. They killed or tortured many non-Pashtoon Afghans, raped women, and did many other non-humanitarian actions. They banned music, cinema, men without beards, women walking on streets and working, girls attending schools and etc in between 1995 and 2001. Furthermore, Afghanistan became a paradise for all extremist and radical terrorism and organized crime groups. Heroin production increased substantially and Afghanistan became the top heroin producer worldwide. In 2001, the UN agreed to recognize the Taliban regime, if the Taliban removed the opium poppy production. Indeed, the Taliban applied very harsh rules over opium farmers to stop opium production and managed to decrease production drastically. But, the 9/11 terrorist attack changed the entire situation. USA and NATO forces started an operation supported by the Northern Afghanistan forces (led by Great Masood) against the Taliban. Within 3 months, the Taliban was removed from Afghanistan. However, the Taliban didn’t disappear they only moved to Pakistan.
In 2002, a new Afghan government started to build Afghanistan with the help of developed countries. Especially, USA and EU invested large amounts of funding in helping the development of Afghanistan. Indeed, overall, Afghans' livelihood improved significantly in 2021 compared to 2002. The only problem was the implementation of the rule of law. The Afghan relevant organizations never managed to provide equal justice for all persons in Afghanistan. The level of corruption never decreased but increased. There was an organization specifically to monitor corruption in Afghanistan. But even this organization was corrupted. Most government officials are involved in corruption. Indeed, most former government officials are rich and continue their life in Turkiye, EU, USA and Canada. As a result, the Taliban again infiltered Afghanistan. At first, the Taliban clerks started to offer the rule of law based on Islamic rules in rural Afghanistan where Government didn’t have any justice mechanism. By the end of 2020, the Taliban was providing a justice system (through its Sharia courts) in at least 50% of the districts in Afghanistan. The Government only provided a justice system in district centres but not in rural areas at all.
At the same time, the EU and USA were tired of funding Afghanistan and fighting with the Taliban. As a result, the DOHA peace talks started. But, the result of the DOHA peace talks ended with the victory of the Taliban. Somehow, the Afghan army which has 300,000 soldiers didn’t fight against the Taliban which had maximum 15,000 fighters in 2021. I believe in the near future, we will learn how and who ordered Afghan Army not to fight against the Taliban.
At the beginning of the Taliban regime, the UN was hopeful and positive that the Taliban was no anymore the one in the 1990s. The UN continued to fund the projects in Afghanistan. However, the situation in Afghanistan didn’t get better but worsen in terms of Human rights. The corruption continued in the Taliban’s way. This time, the Taliban commanders started to benefit from international funding. Also, Taliban continued target killing in the Country. Until today, the Taliban executed or imprisoned many human rights activists, journalists and former government staff/soldiers in the country. However, the UN and international community never raised their voice much and concerns until the Taliban banned women from working and girls from attending schools. Last week, the Taliban banned women from working for the UN too.
The Taliban regime is the only country banning girls from attending schools and banning women from working. The Taliban says that they do this because they follow Sharia law. However, Saudi Arabia and Iran also follow the Sharia regimes but they don’t ban girls from attending schools and women from working. Of course, the Taliban clerks know this fact and know that such rules do not exist in Sharia. If so, then why do they behave so ? The only explanation could be that they want to be recognized by the UN and the international community. The Taliban may agree with the UN/Western countries to allow girls to attend schools and women (still some special conditions) to work if the UN recognizes the Taliban. Same as in 2001, the Taliban knew the sensitive topics for the Western Countries and the UN, which are girls’ and women’s rights. The Taliban know that once the UN recognizes their regime, it does not matter how much they violate human rights. Therefore, the Taliban play the “women and girls” card to be recognized by the UN.
The UN stopped all of its operations a few days ago and continued communication with the Taliban leadership. The UN wants to stay in Afghanistan. The Taliban knows that they will have a serious problem without international support. If the UN leaves the country, the resistance groups may take financial and military support from other countries. This would be the end of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. This fact is also well-known or should be known by the Taliban leadership. Therefore, overall, it is very likely that the UN and Taliban regime will find a way for girls’ education and women to work (especially female UN staff). Both UN and the Taliban might be happy about the solution. Also, please keep in mind that the UN does things in a “UN way” but this does not have to be a correct or wrong way. The agreement between the UN and the Taliban does not mean that the Taliban will bring peace and happiness to the people of Afghanistan. The vast majority of the Afghan people will continue to suffer. Lastly, the solution for Afghanistan will not come from outside but Afghan people.
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