External Actors in the Afghan Problem
continues..

During the 1950s and 1960s, Afghanistan was able to exploit the Soviet and American need for allies during the Cold War as a way to receive economic assistance from both the powers. Unlike the Soviet Union,

America refused to give extensive military aid to the country, consequently the government of Mohammed Daoud Khan developed warmer ties with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) while officially remaining non-aligned. Following the Marxist takeover of April 1978, the Nur Muhammad Taraki government developed significantly closer ties with the Soviet Union and its communist satellites.

After the Soviet intervention, Afghanistan mirrored the foreign policy of the Soviet Union. Afghan foreign policymakers attempted, with little success, to increase their regime’s image in the non-communist world. With the signing of the Geneva Accords, President Najibullah, unsuccessfully, sought to end the then “Democratic Republic of Afghanistan’s” isolation within the Islamic world and within the non￾aligned movement. Most Western countries, including the United States, maintained small diplomatic missions in the capital city of Kabul during the Soviet occupation. Many countries subsequently closed their missions due to instability and heavy fighting in Kabul after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.

Some countries, including the US, initially welcomed the emergence of the Taleban, who, they saw as a stabilizing, law-enforcing alternative to the warlords who had ruled the country since the fall of Najibullah’s government in 1992.

Those countries quickly alienated themselves from the Taleban after learning of the harsh Sharia law being enforced in Taleban-controlled territories within the countries. Particularly, brutality towards women further caused the outside aid, to the war-torn country, to dry on grounds of human rights. Repeated Taleban efforts to occupy Afghanistan’s seat at the UN and Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) were unsuccessful. By 2001, only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates had recognized the Taleban regime as the De jure government of the country. All these three countries withdrew recognition to the Taleban in the months following the 11 September 2001 terror attacks.

To be continued....