World should not recognise Taliban: Ex-Afghan politician

Kabul, Aug 13 (IANS) One year after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, a former Afghan politician has warned the international community against recognising the current regime in the war-torn nation.

Afghanistan is once again becoming a safe haven for terrorist militias under Taliban rule, former provincial governor Habiba Sarabi told dpa news agency.

"The world should not recognise the Taliban," she said.

Sarabi, who had also served as the Education Minister under President Hamid Karzai until 2005, also points to the responsibility of the international community.

Western powers had helped warlords and other corrupt politicians in Afghanistan gain power, she asserted.

However, it is precisely the high level of corruption in the ranks of the old Afghan government that experts consider to be one of the most important reasons for the collapse of the state and the army.

The Taliban took power in Afghanistan again in August 2021, 20 years after Western troops invaded.

The number of casualties in the fight against the Taliban has been high in recent years, especially among Afghan soldiers.

For many experts, however, the collapse of the Afghan state did not come as a surprise. In addition to support from regional powers, the peace treaty between the US and the Taliban in Doha 2020 also helped the militant Islamists to gain new strength.

For the Afghan army, on the other hand, the peace talks were a bitter setback, Sarabi told dpa.

It was precisely at this difficult time that the withdrawal of international troops had taken place "without a clear plan and without clear responsibility".

"Afghanistan was simply put back into the hands of terrorists," the politician said.

According to Sarabi, this is a development that will come back to bite the rest of the world.

"If we forget Afghanistan, extremism will come knocking on our door."