Throughout the two decades between the so-called governments of the Taliban, Afghanistan’s most generous regional partner was India. Its $ 3 bn in funding included a new road to ports in Iran and small development projects to improve health and education facilities. India has not stopped its aid to the Afghan people even after it closed its embassy in Kabul two days after the US withdrawal in August 2021; by March 2022, India delivered over 10,000 MT of wheat of a promised 50,000 MT of wheat to the Afghan people. Thus, India helped the Afghan people in their difficult times.

However, a latest report published (April 2022) by the Europe Asia Foundation (EAF) titled “Can ‘Softly-Softly’ address the Afghan crisis?” claims that aid delivery to the Afghan people has not been very efficient. The report informs that international humanitarian aid to the tune of $ 1.88 bn pledged since mid-2021 has not been distributed efficiently and more than half of all Afghans go hungry. Similarly, the World Food Programme (WFP) is finding it difficult to find donors to fund its $ 4.4 billion plans.

This raises the moot question: if the intention of the international community is to use aid and assistance as leverage to obtain the Taliban’s good behaviour, has the move succeeded?  The answer is a resounding no based on factors like closure of girls’ schools and ban on girls/women from attending schools and colleges.

“A government that is seriously worried about its place in the international panoply of nations would be concerned about this situation, but there is little sign that Afghanistan will bend to the whim of the international community” states the EAF report. This sums up the attitude of Pakistan-backed Taliban government in Afghanistan today. Recall that last year; the Taliban spokesman had pledged not to ban girls from schools.

This March the Taliban cited a technical hitch to indefinitely postpone the reopening of girls’ secondary schools. Today Afghan women are completely out of the education system and the World Bank has suspended a $ 600 million investment in Afghan schools!

To the international community this is a no-no as it goes against Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) relating to quality education for all and gender equality.

The lack of inclusivity with regard to women is just one aspect of the social malaise in Afghanistan. There are ethnic divisions – divisions within the Pashtuns and within the Taliban also. This has led to a lack of cohesive decision making on issues like women’s education claims the EAF report.

Some factions in the Taliban are obviously more regressive and inward looking than others. That is why women’s education is banned though protests by women are occasionally allowed on the Kabul streets.

Well, the European Parliament has been helping Afghan women to maintain a high media profile, hosting a series of topical events featuring women who have formerly held important positions in the Afghan society. But that is neither here nor there. More so as the evidence on the ground suggests that no amount of Western pressure is likely to get the Taliban, with its Pakistan backers, to relent on social or economic reform that would help the Afghan people.

This has led to an international reticence to engage with Afghanistan. Only 13 countries today maintain their Embassies in Kabul, with the EU being the only grouping to have a presence amongst non-Asian countries. Mere presence in Afghanistan is insufficient to surmount the scale of humanitarian tragedy that is unfolding.

Some $ 9 bn of Afghan assets remain frozen in the international banking system as a result of sanctions. The US, the nation where most of it is held, plans to spend half of it on humanitarian aid and the other half, on compensation for individuals who had suffered losses as a result of 9/11 and other (allegedly) Taliban-endorsed attacks. This means resources to protect forty million Afghans from humanitarian disaster do exist.  But channelling these funds to the 40 million Afghan people is the most direct challenge today.

Notably, today all foreign aid to Afghanistan stands halted, excepting for the assistance that is being given to international aid agencies and NGOs to directly help the Afghan people. The sudden stopping of aid caused a severe liquidity crisis and imports of urgently needed food and medicines could not be funded.

The EAF, therefore, says, it is time to “formulate a positive regional strategy”, involving both Afghanistan and its key neighbours, with global involvement, combining channels of support to deliver humanitarian results. While in itself, this is an idea, the EAF is not unaware of the hiccups. Because the EAF report admits that the proposal to have “Pakistan better deliver the values it espouses, such as gender equality than it has previously, is crucial to future success in Afghanistan” is near impossible to implement in practice.

Therefore, a regional consensus strategy on Afghanistan is likely to elude the West and countries like India will have to continue to plough a lonely furrow in Afghanistan till the Taliban is replaced by a better government!  (POREG)

REFERENCES

1. https://www.europenowjournal.org/2021/10/04/impaired-state-ruptured-lives-afghan-refugee-women-in-the-eu/
2. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/indias-development-aid-to-afghanistan-exceeds-3bn/articleshow/67379066.cms