August 15, 2024 marks the third anniversary of the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan and holding the Afghan people hostage.

When then-US President Donald Trump appointed Zalmay Khalilzad as Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation in Afghanistan in 2018, he enthusiastically pushed for negotiations with the Taliban to end the United States’ longest war. Khalilzad’s mandate was to (1) ensure the withdrawal of US and other foreign troops, (2) obtain a guarantee from the Taliban that there would be no terrorist attacks from Afghan soil, (3) achieve a ceasefire, and (4) conduct an intra-Afghan dialogue.

In his recent interview with Tolo TV, Afghanistan’s largest television channel, Khalilzad reiterated that the Doha agreement signed by the US and the Taliban on February 29, 2020, has yet to be implemented. He rejected Taliban rhetoric that the US has lost its longest war. Instead, Khalilzad claimed that the United States left Afghanistan voluntarily.

I argue that the goal of the negotiations between the Taliban and the US was not peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, but rather the fulfillment of the first goal of Khalilzad’s mandate: the withdrawal of foreign troops. Meanwhile, the concerns of Afghan women – which were consistently and courageously raised during the three-year negotiations from 2018 to 2021 – were ignored. Today, these concerns have become a living nightmare for girls and women.

The Taliban’s illegitimate rule has had a huge impact on the Afghan people, even as current global geostrategic shifts make peace in Afghanistan difficult. What can the international community in general, and South Asia in particular, do to support an Afghan political process that could lead to lasting peace and regional security?

During the negotiations between the Taliban and the US, Afghan civil society and women’s groups stressed that there is no difference between the Taliban that ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s and the Taliban of today. The Taliban are an ideologically dogmatic, extremist, religious proxy group. After taking power, their goal was to eradicate women from Afghan society. In fact, Afghan women point out, when the Taliban took power, they gradually began to eliminate women, the political opposition, civil society, the media and progressive voices.

One of the first measures taken by the Taliban was to ban Afghan girls from education and schooling beyond the sixth grade. In recent years, no girl has completed high school or university. The Taliban then began to ban women from working, for example, women-run bakeries were closed. Visiting parks, Hammams (public baths) and cafes were banned for women. Local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are prohibited from educating and training female staff. The Taliban also replaced the Ministry of Women’s Affairs with the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Women are also prohibited from participating in radio and television programmes presented by men, from playing sports and from madam (male chaperone) (see the US Institute of Peace’s ban list for more details). In their effort to banish women from Afghan society, the Taliban place the blame on Afghan men when their female codependents violate the regulations. This means that Afghan men are also victims of the Taliban’s gender-discriminatory policies.

The Taliban have stated that they will respect King Zahir Shah’s constitution but will not allow political parties and social organizations. Although they have announced amnesty for those who worked with or for the former government of the republic, they have continued to carry out arbitrary arrests, kill former Afghan security forces, and torture and disappear former government officials (notably, the UN Special Rapporteur was denied entry into the country), according to a report by a UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan. The detention of Matiullah Wesa, who campaigned from village to village for girls’ education and women’s empowerment, sets a precedent for the dwindling voice of Afghan civil society, both men and women.

The Taliban have succeeded in tarnishing Afghan identity by bringing back the tricolor flag and abolishing the cultural celebrations of Nowruz. Their ban on women’s education was falsely recognized as part of Afghan culture by then Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan when the Taliban seized de facto power in the country. The Taliban’s ruthless treatment of religious and ethnic minorities has also damaged Afghanistan’s diversity.

Another worrying development is the establishment of Madrasas (religious schools) and the radicalization of Afghan society. Haqqani madrassas were established in Paktia province and the General Directorate of Jihad Schools has reported that there are a total of 6,830 madrassas across the country. At a time when 24.4 million Afghans are in need of humanitarian assistance and 9 out of 10 live in poverty, the Taliban are luring Afghan families with $250 to attend these madrassas. There is a direct link between the restrictions and bans on women, their lack of education and poverty, and the increasing radicalization.

By monopolising power and refusing to negotiate with Afghans from different walks of life, the Taliban have demonstrated that they do not believe in negotiation or reconciliation. The United Nations and the international community must recognise that consensus and peace cannot be achieved by condoning the actions of a militant group that promotes a culture of impunity and speaks only the language of violence.

Even though Afghans do not want a return to the era of warlords and corrupt politicians of the former republic, a survey by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) found that only four percent of Afghan women and three percent of Afghan men were in favor of recognizing the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate.

Following the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza have also exacerbated major power rivalry over Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s geostrategic location has led countries such as the US, China, Russia and their neighbours to put their own interests ahead of those of the Afghan people. However, agreements with the Taliban regime only serve their short-term interests, as the Taliban do not represent the majority of the Afghan population.

A prosperous and peaceful region is envisaged if Afghanistan is at peace and its political institutions are based on justice, equality and economic empowerment. Afghanistan’s global position has never been offensive since World War II. The country wants to live in peace with its neighbors, provided its sovereignty is respected and proxy politics of the actors involved are ended.

The current Taliban authoritarian regime is a continuation of misguided policies by foreign actors that have promoted instability and extremism in Afghanistan. Regional economic prosperity and human security are directly linked to Afghanistan’s current and future political situation.

Therefore, the United Nations must seek an international consensus-building mechanism and a national one that reflects the wishes of Afghans for their future with an inclusive and transparent approach.

Unfortunately, the people who are invited to international forums are responsible for 40 years of conflict and destruction in Afghanistan. Most of the conflicting parties in Afghanistan negotiate their place for money and power at the expense of Afghan national interests, which makes them untrustworthy to the Afghan people. Moreover, the current regime makes it an impossible task to establish people-led processes to discuss Afghanistan’s political future in the country.

Afghanistan’s neighbours in the region must encourage debate and create conditions conducive to the promotion of sustainable development goals and civil-political and social rights in order to find inclusive alternatives in Afghanistan, rather than blindly falling into the trap of recognizing the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate. The international community must learn from past mistakes: if the fundamentals of transitional justice, equality and freedom are not implemented, state and political institutions will collapse. The continuation of the status quo in Afghanistan will not only destroy Afghan society, but the effects of chaos will be felt far beyond Afghanistan’s borders.