Countries deepen contacts with Taliban as Afghanistan isolation eases
The Taliban in Afghanistan are stepping up efforts to end their international isolation as several regional and international actors expand contacts with the group. The renewed engagement comes despite continuing concerns over human rights, including restrictions on women's education and employment, and pressure on journalists, activists and minorities. The development reflects a broader shift in how some governments are dealing with the authorities in Kabul, nearly five years after the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
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According to the supplied report, India, Qatar, China, Iran and several Central Asian states have recently welcomed Taliban officials or opened new channels of communication. Russia signed a military cooperation agreement with the Taliban government last month, after recognising it in Kabul just over a year ago. In June, the European Union also held talks with Taliban officials in Brussels about returning failed asylum-seekers to Afghanistan.
Campaigners say the growing number of separate contacts risks weakening coordinated pressure for improvements in rights. The United Nations has described a recent wave of edicts and laws that have banned women from universities and most employment, denied teenage girls education and imposed strict dress codes. The UN has also said minorities have been persecuted, while activists and journalists face repression.
In March, it described Afghanistan as a "graveyard for human rights". The diplomatic opening matters because it suggests the strict isolation policy adopted after the Taliban takeover is fragmenting. That policy had aimed to deny formal legitimacy while pressing the group to change its behaviour.
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Instead, the report says, the Taliban now appear to be using each new contact as evidence of growing acceptance. For regional states, the issue is also practical, as Afghanistan remains central to security, migration and cross-border diplomacy. The report quotes Shivam Shekhawat of the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi as saying the Taliban are now in a "confident position" and have realised they are indispensable for regional countries.
He said they have identified how to engage with Europe and the United States as well. His comments underline a wider debate over whether limited engagement can produce leverage, or whether it simply grants the Taliban more legitimacy without securing concessions. The shift also reflects a gradual change in the international response since the Taliban seized Kabul after 20 years of insurgent warfare.
Some western commentators have suggested more countries should recognise the regime, while others favour intensified back-channel engagement. The report indicates that individual countries are increasingly pursuing their own approaches rather than maintaining a unified line. That fragmentation is one reason campaigners say the Taliban have been able to capitalise on the contacts as diplomatic wins.
What remains unclear is whether the growing contacts will lead to any measurable change in Taliban policy on rights, education or political freedoms. It is also not clear how far individual governments are prepared to go in formalising ties, or whether the current pattern will produce a more coordinated international approach. The next developments to watch are further official meetings, any new recognition steps, and whether the Taliban make any concessions in response to the expanding engagement.
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