America Shouldn’t Go Back to Afghanistan

By Wahab Raofi

In an op-ed in the New York Times, Kathy Gannon writes that America should go back to Afghanistan and open its embassy in Kabul to get re-engaged with the Taliban and society.

I understand her perspective; it’s rooted in her sympathy for the hardships faced by the Afghan people, whose pain and suffering she covered for the past four decades as a reporter.

The reality necessitates an approach that prioritizes the interests of the United States’ values and the welfare of Afghan people. Opening the embassy in Kabul is not one of those. Instead, it may inadvertently strengthen the Taliban's iron-grip on power that neither Afghans nor the community of the free world espouses.

I believe that re-opening the U.S. embassy would be seen as a recognition of the Taliban regime that no other country has accepted, and it’s for good reason: This group is widely regarded as extremists, rejecting the will of its people to hold free elections, violating human rights, cracking down on freedom of expression and disregarding established international norms and agreements. The Taliban’s key leaders remain featured prominently on terrorist watchlists, and the allegation of Taliban harboring terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, ISI and TTP has not wavered.

At home front, the group lacks legitimacy and support among the multi-ethnic society. Afghans believe that the Taliban was imposed upon them by the deal between the U.S. and the Taliban in 2020 known as the Doha Agreement.

Therefore, re-opening the embassy in Kabul would be tantamount to closing our eyes to the will of the Afghan people.

Since taking power in August 2001, the Taliban has turned Afghanistan into a concentration camp, banning women from working in office settings, from visiting public parks or attending hairdressing salons. The Associated Press reported that the Afghan women and girls were already reeling from bans on education and access to public spaces.

The Afghan Gestapo known as Vice and Virtue beats women, takes them to prison for wearing bad hijab, and is abducting young girls. Music is banned, and men are being harassed for trimming their beards.

Soon after taking power last August, the Taliban vowed to crack down on narcotics. They seemed to make good on that promise, issuing a decree that unequivocally banned the production and sale of illicit drugs. But unfortunately, that decree has been inadequately enforced, and Afghanistan’s drug trade is now booming under Taliban rule. Afghanistan is the world’s fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, according to a report from the United Nations drug agency.

The Afghanistan government has been in autopilot for the past two-and-half-years. It’s the only country whose leader, Mullah Hibatullah, is nowhere to be seen in public; however, edicts are issued in his name from Kandahar, a province in the south.

In order to work in Taliban government, one must be Pashtun or a mullah (religious leader). Democracy, freedom of speech, women’s rights and shared power are western values that remain incongruous with Islam.

It’s a government of the mullahs, for the mullahs and by the mullahs.

Most significantly, acknowledging the Taliban regime could embolden other terrorist groups to follow suit, perhaps leading to other attempts at overthrowing legitimate governments through violent means. This could pose a grave threat to global security.

Re-opening the American embassy in Kabul would neither enhance the promotion of freedom, nor respect for human rights, nor contribute to putting food on Afghan tables.

Abdullah Khenjani, a former member of the Afghan government and participant in peace talks with the Taliban, who, like many other former Afghan officials, currently lives in exile, told me that, while reopening the embassy may align with American strategic interests, a significant portion of the Afghan population cannot embrace a governance model rooted in medieval interpretations of Islam and entrenched in tribal practices that sideline women from public life.

What can be done? The U.S. should put its signature on the latest United Nations Security Council resolution, calling for the appointment of a special envoy for Afghanistan to increase engagement with the country and its Taliban leaders.

Let’s keep the embassy key as instrument of  leverage until the Taliban respects the will of their people and honors basic U.N. resolutions.

Today, Afghans require assistance from the free world, just as the U.S. and its allies intervened to help Ukrainians in defending their freedom against the aggressive actions of Putin. In this instance, the Taliban can be likened to Putin, as they have declared war on their own people.