ROME – The evacuation of Afghanistan in 2021 was one of the largest airlift operations in history, which saw the withdrawal of over 122,000 foreign nationals from Kabul in 11 days. After 20 years of protecting the NATO-backed Islamic Republic, America and its allies conceded the country to the Taliban. Forever engrained in the minds of many are the images of Kabul airport on that last day of departure – images in which Afghan people cling to the wings of US aircraft preparing for take-off.

 With NATO gone, the Taliban regime got comfortable in its reclaimed seat of power, and initiated the country’s second process of ‘Talibanisation’ in recent history. This term, now increasingly finding itself on the lips of scholars and politicians, is used to describe the installation of the regime’s trademark characteristics: severely curtailed women’s rights, institutionalised corruption, and tactics of terror and violence. But this process did not stop when it reached the borders of Afghanistan.

 At the Euro-Gulf Information Centre’s talk ‘The Geography of Talibanisation’, a diverse and expert panel from Europe and beyond sought to bring awareness to the way the Taliban is spreading its presence farther than Central Asia, and is indeed gradually carving out a space for its ideology and governance in certain international circles. The EGIC is a think-tank headquartered in Rome, which seeks to encourage and develop the relationship between Europe and the Gulf Cooperation Council. This particular round-table discussion sought to highlight the abhorrent illegitimacy of the Taliban regime, and spark discussion on how EU and Gulf nations in particular can deal with the rising global presence of Talibanist politics.

 The first guest speaker, one who has witnessed firsthand the rise and fall of Afghanistan’s communist, republican and Taliban regimes, sought to speak of the new regime’s tactic in terms of ‘sanctuary-building’.  According to him, the Taliban have undergone various measures to make the regime geographically, ideologically, institutionally and even digitally a ‘safe space’ for extremists – one that is politically stable, uncontested and increasingly untouchable.

 This process of sanctuary-building is a result of both domestic and external measures. Within Afghanistan, the hyper-proliferation of ‘Madrases’ (schools that teach extremists readings of the Quran) ensures the formation of a new generation of young militants. It is estimated that by the end of the year there will be nearly 4300 of these in Afghanistan.

 However, this education is, of course, only afforded to the country’s male population. Women and girls of Afghanistan are persecuted in every aspect of daily life, with no access to schooling above age 12. As of recent, for example, a new law reportedly forbids women from raising their voices, on the justification that it may arouse and distract men.  

 From a geographical perspective, the extremist sanctuary of Afghanistan is maintained by the strategic placement of allied terrorist groups around the country’s border. EGIC’s expert guest claims the Taliban collaborates in a symbiotic relationship with a select 25 terrorist organisations, which control and manage any potential disruptions in their designated region. He also cites strategic marriages between the Taliban and certain groups, such as Al-Qaeda, as a way of fortifying relationships and thus political stability.

 But creating such a sanctuary requires putting effort into external relations as well as internal ones. A process of ‘Talibanisation’ can be seen in the spread of the regime’s presence in certain foreign economic and diplomatic circles. This international attempt to legitimise their government, and thus stabilise their sanctuary, is exactly what GCC and EU countries need to rally against.

 At the conference, one expert claimed that there are already four countries which have recognised the legitimacy of the Taliban regime. One of these is North Korea, which hosted some Taliban leaders recently and reportedly provided them with new drone technology. Another is Russia, who, in May this year, promised to remove the Taliban from its list of recognised terror groups, and invited the de facto government to their International Economic Forum in June.

 However, whilst these countries show a relatively overt acknowledgement of Taliban sovereignty, guests on the EGIC’s panel argued that some member states of the EU, often unwittingly, are contributing to a growing ‘soft recognition’ of the regime. There are currently five European countries – amongst them Spain and the Netherlands – in which alleged Taliban affiliates are operating as diplomats within the country’s Afghan embassy. Passing under the guise of representatives from the former government - the Islamic Republic - the host countries may not know about these individuals’ associations or downplayed allegiances to the new government. What concerns the speakers at the EGIC’s conference is the lack of detailed investigation into exactly whom is present in Afghanistan’s embassies. Even the slightest amount of diplomatic space grants the Taliban a platform to not only normalise their regime, but also influence Afghan emigrants who reside in these foreign countries.

 One guest also cited a conference in Switzerland in 2022, at which a Taliban delegate was present, which was organised to discuss approaches to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Whilst the Swiss government hastened to clarify that the presence of the Taliban in their country did not signify a recognition of their right to power, this guest stressed the poor optics of such a conference. For them, even hosting the delegate grants the Taliban a form of soft legitimisation and allows them to be seen on the world stage as ‘official’ representatives of the country.

 For another panel member, the carelessness of the EU is most exemplified in the millions of euros it has piped into Afghanistan, intended for humanitarian NGOs. They can only question whether any organisation in that political climate has the financial autonomy to maintain that money for themselves. For fear of indirectly funding the Taliban, they argue it is essential that any funding towards Afghan crisis organisations is meticulously tracked from its point of entry.

 A representative of the GCC viewed the responsibilities of their union to be similar. They must support peace in Afghanistan, thoroughly track donations, and openly condemn the oppressive tactics of the Taliban. Despite how different their interpretations may be, the shared Islamic faith between the Taliban and the GCC is another potential tool for change. The representative noted the importance of condemning Islamic extremism and instead using their shared religious foundation as a way of promoting more moderate scripture readings.

 As the conference approached its end, the experts looked ahead to the looming election in November, which, depending on the outcome, could see a seismic shift in international diplomatic relations. For one speaker, it is certain that a Trump presidency will bring the issue of Afghanistan back into popular discourse. Despite the plans for America’s evacuation being conceived during the Trump administration, the Republican candidate has not hesitated to place the blame of 2021’s ‘catastrophic’ evacuation on Biden and Harris. ‘Caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all over the world’, blamed Trump this August.

 The Taliban’s effort to strengthen and stabilise their sanctuary is multi-pronged and comprised of a plethora of domestic and external tactics. The consensus from EGIC’s panel was that the EU’s demonstrated naivety to these efforts is not only insensitive and irresponsible, but is also only aiding the Taliban’s mission of legitimisation. The West desperately needs to wake up to the reality of Talibanisation, and put more effort into investigating the people to whom they are giving diplomatic platforms. As the case of governance in Afghanistan threatens to come back into light, the EGIC’s panel urged the EU and other nations to compose themselves. For them, a united front against oppression, corruption and terror is the only way forward.

 dabj