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Is it justified to continue not recognizing the Taliban government, which has now been in power for over three years? This stance does nothing to improve the situation of Afghan women, while also preventing the international community from becoming fully involved in a number of other important issues.

Working for the United Nations in Afghanistan is extremely difficult these days. The Taliban government, in place since August 15, 2021, has not been recognized yet. Despite not being recognized, the UN retains a political presence in the country, and around a thousand expatriates work there for UN agencies which, for the most part, provide humanitarian aid to the population, about a few billion a year.

When the Taliban came to power, they assured the members of the international community that they could stay, and that foreigners (civilians) would enjoy their protection from now on. The Western diplomatic missions all left to avoid recognizing the new power, but the UN agencies remained in place. Their presence was justified by their duty to assist the population.

It is true that Afghanistan is experiencing multiple crises. The war is over, but the country has been hard hit by climate change since at least the 1990s. Long droughts alternating with torrential rains, as well as the melting of the glaciers that feed the irrigation canals, have led to a drop in agricultural productivity and a rural exodus to the cities.

Added to this is a severe economic contraction: the unexpected and rushed departure of the international community has caused GDP to plummet by 28% in one year. By autumn 2021, a year still marked by drought, the UN was predicting a potential famine. Somewhat reluctantly, the international community continued to fund its activities in Afghanistan - on condition that these funds did not benefit the Taliban.

There was no humanitarian catastrophe that first winter, nor in subsequent years, although the dual climate and economic crisis continued to rage, punctuated by other disasters, either natural such as earthquakes and floods, or political such as Pakistan's decision to expel hundreds of thousands of Afghans. The UN congratulates itself on having been able to avoid the worst, even if other factors such as peace and solidarity between Afghans have greatly contributed to preventing the collapse.

Conflicting positions

The heads of UN agencies in Afghanistan must coordinate their activities with the new authorities, who had developed a strong grip on society even before their return to power, over the course of two decades of “shadow government”. The way in which they govern the areas that are under their control, as well as what many Afghans saw as a war of national liberation, had earned them a certain popular legitimacy, which has increased since they came to power.

After twenty years of war and the withdrawal of NATO, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - the official name of the Taliban government - is not going to disappear any time soon. This is obvious to everyone working in Afghanistan today, including UN agencies.

However, the UN has not recognized the new power yet, which it still refers to as the “de facto authorities”, and the previous government, despite having been completely dismantled, still occupies Afghanistan's headquarters at the UN, as well as most embassies around the world. Even if some states, including some of the most powerful ones, especially those geographically close like Russia and China, have started getting closer to the Taliban governing Kabul, the Islamic authorities are still not included in international institutions, where they continue to be considered a terrorist organization not to be spoken to.

The Taliban are being pressured to accept the customs and values we believe to be universal - which they are traditionally against. This pressure only leads to their radicalization. In December 2023, referring to the Taliban's fight against jihadists from Islamic State in Khorasan and their campaign to destroy poppy fields, the director of international trade at the Ministry of Commerce of the current government in Kabul said to me:

Discreet exchanges that pay off

In April 2023, the Taliban announced that Afghan women were no longer allowed to work for the UN in t“You (the international community) wanted us to fight terrorism. We have. You were concerned with opium production, which is harming young people in your countries. We put an end to it. You have never publicly acknowledged that the Islamic Emirate has been able to solve these problems that your government (the republic established from 2001 to 2021) was unable to solve by itself. Now you're constantly criticizing us about Afghan women, and you want us to listen to you again. But this is about our society (and our ways); you don’t have a say on this topic.”

According to the UN members, the Taliban are primitive misogynists and religious barbarians that should be rejected, and this perception is widespread. But such beliefs have no real impact on the fate of Afghan women, and only make it harder for UN employees to work in the country. Therefore the UN must publicly express its rejection of the Taliban authorities... while discreetly communicating with them so as to achieve actual results.

The country. However, to my knowledge, no women have been dismissed by UN agencies since then, and new ones have even been recruited, thanks to the dialogue the UN has maintained with islamic leaders far from the cameras. But every time UN representatives publicly criticize the Taliban's policy regarding women and their powers, these fragile negotiations are at risk.

All international attention on Afghanistan is focused on this single issue: the Afghan women. A French TV producer to whom I offered several of my works about Afghanistan warned me that if it was not just about “beards and burqas”, no TV network would ever be interested in my works. Without in any way minimizing the plight of Afghan women, especially girls, who are now denied access to secondary and higher education, there are other themes that deserve our attention.

Climate change, for example, is a phenomenon to which Afghanistan contributes virtually nothing. If the desertification of this country of 40 million inhabitants continues, we can expect waves of migration to neighboring countries and to richer, more temperate countries.The Islamic Emirate is concerned by the climate threat and could prove to be an effective partner in adapting to climate change; but it still needs to be able to participate in international forums and access funding such as that planned for COP 29 - a conference to which it has been invited, but only with observer status.

The agency for which I was a strategic communications advisor, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), continues to implement environmental and forest preservation programs, and to carry out major agricultural and irrigation projects. But when it comes to communication, we have to be very careful to show that this only benefits the precarious communities and not the government. If a member of the government is present at an inauguration, we avoid publishing a photo of it.

The other agency with a mandate to combat climate change - the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) - has put an end to all its environmental protection programs to avoid any suspicion of collusion. The very word “development” is outlawed in agency communications in Afghanistan, as it implies support for the government; we now speak only of the need to satisfy the population's “basic needs”.

Despite its public hostility to the Taliban, the latter continue to accept the UN because it relieves pressure on their government for humanitarian assistance, makes possible some form of dialogue with the international community, and causes an influx of dollars into a parched economy. 

Although this allows the UN to remain on site, its continued presence could also be interpreted as implicit support for the Islamic Emirate. Highly sensitive to this accusation, its agencies prefer to keep a low profile and avoid investing in the major projects the country needs, for example to adapt to climate change.

Breaking the deadlock

Denying the fact that the Taliban are governing Afghanistan seems, in practice, to bring nothing more than moral validation to Western politicians, who thus pose as protectors of Afghan women at little cost.

While this may give comfort to Afghan refugees abroad who seek to return to power with Western support, it does nothing to change the situation in Afghanistan. To think that the Taliban will crumble under the pressure of international public opinion after inflicting a defeat on the United States and NATO is nothing but a vain wish.

Whether we like it or not, for the United Nations, a more open relationship with the new power in Afghanistan would increase the chances of having a positive impact on the country, especially in the medium and long term.