Afghanistan Under the Taliban: One Year Forward, Twenty-Five Years Backward

A year after the fall of Kabul, the situation in Afghanistan remains fraught. The Taliban have backtracked on most of the political, security, and human rights assurances and guarantees they had given to the international community at the time of the Doha agreements. With the economy in a free fall, living conditions deteriorating, and political and human rights snatched away from the Afghans, the future appears bleak for the people of Afghanistan. The Taliban also faces significant threats from the ISKP which has intensified its attacks in the country. Ethnic resistance to Taliban rule has also started. Against this backdrop, this session will deal with the following questions -

• Where does Afghanistan stand, a year after the Taliban’s ascension to power, specifically the state of the economy and the humanitarian spillover of the political crisis?
• With India re-opening its embassy in Kabul, what is the current assessment about the region’s engagement with the Taliban
• How potent is the threat from the ISKP to the Taliban given the escalation in their attacks inside the country?
• How valid are concerns about differences and rising factionalism within the group owing to its failure to convert the interim administration into a formal governance structure?
• Is there a need for the international community to rethink its approach to the threats emanating from Afghanistan?
• What are the implications of the cross-border trafficking and terrorism in the country and the Taliban’s inability and complicity in countering it?