Taliban 2.0 & Afghanistan’s Earthquake: The way to cope with the plethora
of challenges

Afghanistan is enduring difficult times these days. It is on the verge of economic collapse. Since
the Taliban have assumed power, they are struggling on the internal and external fronts to cope
with the plethora of challenges. The biggest challenge for them is to cope with the contracting
economy. With every passing day, apprehensions are mounting that it might not reach
bankruptcy. The recent devastating earthquake(6.1 magnitudes) has added more woes to the
already struggling country. Approximately 1000 casualties have been reported and more than
1500 people are injured. Only 17% of hospitals are functioning in Afghanistan which has made it
even more difficult to entertain injured persons properly. Many areas have been badly affected by
this earthquake. There are apprehensions that the death toll could rise because many people are
still missing and they could be under debris. Due to hard mountainous terrain, it is a tedious task
to carry out relief activities in all areas because of the lack of infrastructure. The dilemma is that
the whole of Afghanistan is not properly connected through the road network. When the US
landed in Afghanistan after 9/11, it started making roads. It had planned to connect major cities
of Afghanistan(Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul, Kandahar, Delaram, and Herat) through the “Afghan Ring
Road Project”. But this plan couldn’t be materialized because the US’ attention got diverted
toward the Iraq War. So, the process of building infrastructure slowed down and it completely
stopped when Obama gave the evacuation plan. Currently, Afghanistan is facing the worst
humanitarian crisis of its history. Due to the freezing of assets of $9.5 billion by the US, the
Taliban are having difficulty running governmental affairs and can’t pay salaries to civil servants.
Before the Taliban assumed power in 2021, 75% of governmental functions were dependent on
foreign aid which was stopped after the withdrawal of the US, because of the apprehensions by
the donor agencies that aid could be used to buy weapons that would consolidate the power of
Taliban. But in all this scenario, the ordinary Afghans are suffering more. The World Food
Program has estimated that 35% of people are facing hunger. According to UNICEF, 3.2 million
children under the age of five are suffering from malnutrition and at least 1 million of these
children could die due to severe acute malnutrition without immediate treatment. The UN has
appealed for $4.5 billion to avert the humanitarian crisis. Currently, this deadly earthquake has
put the Taliban regime in a more complicated situation because relief activities can’t be aligned
on the fast track as Afghanistan lacks a proper disaster management system. The UN
Secretary-General said that the organization has fully mobilized to assist with the deployment of
health teams and supplies. Eight trucks of food and other necessities were sent by Pakistan.
Although the US and the EU have offered assistance in relief activities, the mistrust seems to be
the hurdle in providing economic assistance to the Taliban regime. The Taliban regime is
desperately seeking economic, health, food, and technical assistance from the international
community to cope with the difficult situation. The issue of legitimacy shouldn’t hinder the
international humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, said an economic expert, Janat Fahim.
Although Pakistan, Iran, UAE, and some other countries have sent supplies to Afghanistan,
which isn’t enough keeping in view the magnitude of the situation. Keeping aside all the
international assistance, the real responsibility lies with the Taliban if they veritably want to be
the legitimized rulers of Afghanistan and want to bring change in the lives of ordinary Afghans
then they will have to shun their old tactics. Though they claim themselves as Taliban
2.0(reformed Taliban), on-ground reality depicts another side of the story. They are still the same
hardliners with the old stringent ideology of curbing human rights, restricting women to homes,
infringing their right to education, restricting them to travel alone, curbing media freedom, and
threatening revenge killings against political rivals. To deal with the issue of international
recognition, firstly they should realize to be legitimized internally. They can do so by forming an
inclusive government. They should resolve the disputes with the NRF of Panjshir valley. They
should also resolve their internal differences. The Haqqani network should align itself with the
Durrani group. The Durrani group, being more rational, took part in the Doha deal. They also
propose to form an inclusive government but the Haqqani network led by Sirrajuddin Haqqani,
the interior minister of Afghanistan, considers war as the sole option for every problem. It might
be possible that the Haqqani network is the main hindrance to forming an inclusive government.
Unless the Taliban mend their ways, it is unlikely that they would be able to get international
recognition and financial help from international financial institutions and donor agencies
because of their chequered past in which they violated all the international laws regarding
international relations and human rights. Furthermore, the Taliban shouldn’t let anyone use their
soil to launch terrorist activities. In recent days, several attacks occurred in Pakistan. These
attacks were carried out by proscribed TTP based in Afghanistan. Taliban must realize that these
attacks would deteriorate their relations with neighbors including Pakistan, China, Iran, and
CARs. They should engage themselves with neighbors to bring a positive change in the lives of
ordinary Afghans. They should appeal to the professionals to move back to the country so that
they may incorporate in the development of the country. Taliban should prioritize governance as
their top agenda. They must ensure the right man for the right job. A religious cleric won’t be
able to manage a technical institution with zero knowledge. Taliban should be part of CPEC
which will pave the way to bring Afghanistan out of the quagmire as developing infrastructure
would help installation of the industry. Till now, Afghanistan’s woes have been ramping up and
the recent earthquake has compounded the more woes. If the Taliban follow up on these
measures, they will be able to win the international community’s trust and ultimately they would
be recognized as well. Alienating this roadmap wouldn’t benefit them and Afghanistan would
face more catastrophic consequences. At the end of the day, it will affect the ordinary Afghan
people who could be used by terrorist organizations.
Rai Ahmad Kamal
863, J 2, Johar Town, Lahore
Graduated from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad with an Engineering degree.
Freelance writer and I have an interest in writing on issues of politics, economy,
International Relations, and Pakistan’s Foreign Policy.