The resurgence of Taliban in Afghanistan: Foreign policy options of major powers
- South Asian Journal of Socio-Political Studies
- 23(2), Jan-Jun, 2023: p.31-35
For the United States of America, their failure in Afghanistan was a foregone conclusion. But the speed with which the Taliban surged in was beyond their expectations. American intelligence agencies seemed to have estimated that Kabul will fall within ninety days after the withdrawal of U.S. forces. The Washington Post reported this on August 10. But, without any resistance and even a fight, the city fell in a single day, on August 15. It is beyond any doubt that it was the Pakistan Army’s logistics and advice that helped and eased Taliban’s march to Kabul. Pakistan nurtured the Taliban and designed their effortless way to power in Afghanistan. Afghanistan holds a very important position in India’s network of trade and diplomatic relationships. But the strong ties between the two countries have been abruptly derailed by the establishment of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The failure of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, and the simultaneous resurgence of the Taliban after twenty years is expected to bring a lot of consequences in the relation among nations in general and in the region in particular. The Taliban’s outreach to Pakistan, China, Russia, and to an extent even Iran, is likely to set in a series of developments that could alter the geopolitics of the region.- Reproduced