S14: Taliban Regime and statebuilding

Question 1

FIVE MYTHS ABOUT THE TALIBAN!!! (JACKSOOOOON, 2021)

Answer 1

1. Pakistan controls the Taliban
2. The Taliban Fragments easily
3. The Taliban has a plan for running Afghanistan
4. The Taliban will bring back al-Qaeda
5. The Taliban doesn’t reflect Afghanistan’s diversity

Question 2

What two challenges does the Afghan regime face?

Answer 2

1. State capacity
   -Unprecedented crisis(financial, humanitarian, economic) + organizational and political challenge
2. State legitimacy
   Violent and non-violent resistance

Question 3

What are the four conditions named by Svedlund for donations to be succesful?

Answer 3

1. If conditions are not met Donators need to cut funding
2. Donators need to understand the Taliban wants and needs
3. Taliban’s need for Western aid needs to be so strong that they would be willing to make core political concessions
4. Donors must reject attempts at window dressing

Question 4

Why can we speak of “reversed leverage”

Answer 4

Most of the countries in the West have the illusion that they can steer the Taliban with their money, this is not the case. We speak of reverse leverage because the Taliban regime is less willing to make concessions than that the international community is willing to give up on giving humanitarian aid.

Question 5

What is the fallacy of international recognition?

Answer 5

The Taliban regime sees international recognition as a right and not something that can be negotiated. Therefore pushing the regime to make concessions is dangerous because they can adopt isolationist policies, which will result in no communication at al.

Question 6

Why is there no leverage?

Answer 6

-Taliban favours internal cohesion above international engagement (aid+int. recognition) Unity is what they believe lead them to power

-Ideologically consistent policymaking serves as a signalling mechanism to domestic audiences
twee bronnen bla bla

Question 7

No the world should not engage with the Taliban:

Answer 7

-Moral arguments
Form of symbolic support the Afghan population
To avoid legitimizing Taliban regime
-Practical arguments
Engaging will not achieve anything, and will strength the hardliners
Engaging will weaking those who are pressuring them domestically
Engaging will strenghten the regime politcally/economically

Question 8

Yes the world should engage with the Taliban:

Answer 8

-Things will only get worse for the Afghan population and the world…
If they remain isolated, or if the regime collapses.
Situation is unlikely to get better, as long as the group’s survival is directly at stake

-Engagement is needed for:
Better humanitarian efforts
Fruitful counterterrorism
Flexibility and ad hoc arrangements at local level
For reducing misunderstanding and mistrust

Question 9

What are five common mistakes in communicating with the Taliban

Answer 9

1. Misjudge the diplomacy of pariahs (outcasts)
2. Commit exclusively to Human Rights discourse
3. Fail to interpret the discourse of Jihadists
4. Assume rigidity in discourse equals rigidity in policymaking
5. Avoid establishing a clear international roadmap of engagement