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Greeting to all viewers. We are from group 2 and our group’s video will be talking about the issue of the Afghanistan conflict, specifically the consequences of the Taliban’s extreme ideology on the International Community.
Before we begin, we must know that the conservative political and religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan revolves around the involvement of the Taliban group that came to seize control over the capital, Kabul, after the disturbance and displacement during the Afghan War from 1978 to 1992.
After the long effort of fighting against the Afghan government, the Taliban finally took control of Afghanistan for 5 years where they practiced brutal Islamic Law.
During that time, the constitution of human rights was ripped off by this group; music and television were banned, girls were forbidden from going to school, men and women were stoned to death for adultery.
The regime neglected social services and other basic state functions, for instance, the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice required women to wear the head-to-toe burqa or chadri; and even to the extent that they would jail men whose beards it deemed too short
although the cruelty of the Taliban continues, the world, however, doesn’t show any support towards its action. Even after the US troops overthrew the Taliban when they invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, the country did not achieve peace to its fullest, however, the damage is less traumatizing than when the Taliban is present.
Pivot back to the recent event, after 20 years of battle against the US-led coalition, in April 2021, the Biden administration has decided to withdraw its troops from all military bases located in Afghanistan.
As a result of the protection withdrawal from both the US and Afghan leader, the Taliban has once again expanded its influence through militia power and took over the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul.
They had announced the all-male interim Taliban government that entails only the senior Taliban members in the line of duty.
In contrast to the 1990s, a recent Taliban spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reassured that they would have a peaceful transfer of power, that it would offer amnesty to government officials, and that women’s rights would be respected.
Although this may sound promising, sources from Afghanistan have said that most of the things the Taliban government had said weren’t exactly what is put in practice in reality.
The reality of Afghanistan, unfortunately, is still under their interpretation of law and order, where the Taliban insert the exclusion of women from public life (including employment and education), the systematic security destruction, and the implementation of harsh criminal punishments, like hanging the thief as a punishment in public.
The ambiguity of what the government of Taliban is planning to do remains unsolved, and as time flies by, the people continue to suffer under the violence of the Taliban, the restriction of diplomatic and civil’s rights, as well as, the economic downfall of the country due to its unfulfilling promises and actions.
The objectives of this video are to analyze the Taliban projection towards becoming a legitimate government of Afghanistan and take notice of the conflict mechanisms that had been used before based on the theories we had learned about conflict resolution management.
In the general scope of things, both the United States and the Soviet Union attempted at controlling Afghanistan since the 1980s have failed. This can be explained with the concept of Game Theory from Strategic Realism. It asks whether a conflict is a ‘finite’ or ‘infinite’ game. In this approach, the Afghanistan conflicts can be considered as an infinite game. Because the United States and the USSR might be fighting for an objective of controlling Afghanistan. The Taliban has been fighting for survival, therefore the winner will be the ‘player left standing’ in a race of who runs out of resources or motivation first. Simply, external countries fought the conflict for interests, while the Taliban defended themselves for their values Now that the Taliban holds complete control over Afghanistan once again, the group seem to be taking a much different approach than its last escapade. The Taliban conducted diplomatic missions years before the 2021 takeover, to avoid returning to its previous state of rule in the 1990s. They conceded their positions on free press, women’s rights, and international cooperation Some say the Taliban has changed their ways and now is willing to adapt to the international environment However, it can also be argued that these are only efforts to regain its footing and in the long term the Taliban will once again push for the spread of Sharia law that is incompatible to the rest of the world. (Face) So how can conflict resolution studies explain this conflict and its involving parties To begin, Chapter 4 of the Conflict Management and Resolution book titled ‘Identity’ might explain the Taliban’s extremism. The concept of ‘social categorization’ Groups in society might segregate themselves by highly visible characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, race, or beliefs. In the case of Taliban, they share a common extreme ideology of how society should be run around their interpretation of Islam through the Sharia Law. This association of meaning and identity creates in-group-out-group hostilities, especially if the groups’ ideologies could not co-exist with one another, in the case of Sharia’s law to the international community. Furthermore the chapter explains morale is enhanced by unquestionable loyalty that might even lead to willingness to sacrifice oneself This is what lead from ‘identity’ to extremism similar to what happens with nationalism. Now that the Taliban has taken control. It turns a more friendly face to the international community. Why? They could be considered as being at the stage of negotiation, as can be explained by chapter 8, where both parties have interests and wants to change the way things are currently The international community wants transparent and clear progress in women’s rights, free press, and peace. And the Taliban wants access to its financial assets, a free flowing market, and recognition of its legitimacy as a government. While some governments does not want any involvement with the Taliban at all due to the severity of their identity polarization such as for Italy and France.
Negotiations between the United States and the Taliban in Doha enter their highest level yet, building on momentum that began in late 2018. The talks between U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and top Taliban official Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar center on the United States withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the Taliban pledging to block international terrorist groups from operating on Afghan soil. The ramped-up diplomacy follows signals that President Trump plans to pull out seven thousand troops, about half the total U.S. deployment. Khalilzad says the United States will insist that the Taliban agree to participate in an intra-Afghan dialogue on the country’s political structure, as well as a cease-fire. It is unclear whether Trump will condition the troop withdrawal on those terms. President Trump abruptly breaks off peace talks a week after top U.S. negotiator Khalilzad announced that an agreement had been reached “in principle” with Taliban leaders. In a tweet, Trump says he canceled a secret meeting with the Taliban and Afghan President Ghani at Camp David after a U.S. soldier was killed in a Taliban attack. The Taliban says it’s “committed to continuing negotiations,” but warns that the cancellation will cause an increase in the number of deaths. U.S. envoy Khalilzad and the Taliban’s Baradar sign an agreement [PDF] that paves the way for a significant drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and includes guarantees from the Taliban that the country will not be used for terrorist activities. The deal says intra-Afghan negotiations should begin the following month, but Afghan President Ghani says the Taliban must meet his government’s own conditions before it enters talks. The U.S.-Taliban deal doesn’t call for an immediate cease-fire, and in the days after its signing, Taliban fighters carry out dozens of attacks on Afghan security forces. U.S. forces respond with an air strike against the Taliban in the southern province of Helmand. Representatives of the Taliban and of the Afghan government and civil society meet face to face for the first time in Doha, Qatar, after nearly twenty years of war. The direct negotiations, which were delayed for months over a prisoner swap proposed in the earlier U.S.-Taliban deal, begin after the Afghan government completes the release of five thousand Taliban prisoners. During opening remarks, both sides express eagerness to bring peace to Afghanistan and establish a framework for Afghan society after U.S. troops withdraw. The government pushes for a cease-fire, while the Taliban reiterates its call for the country to be governed through an Islamic system.