U.S. must withhold aid to hold Taliban accountable
The Taliban are spinning propaganda, including outright lies. The U.S. indulges this deceit, accepting Taliban lies with little criticism and no penalty. This must now change.
Since Donald Trump’s illfated February 2020 agreement, the Taliban has not been held to account.
The Taliban asserted that they were committed to a diplomatic process, right up until Kabul fell. The U.S. played along, sending a representative to Qatar in the final days to ask for negotiations.
The Taliban had stalled at the negotiating table for a year, had launched a major offensive and was committed to a military takeover of the country. All along, Washington simply insisted talks resume.
As the Taliban ramped up attacks, and civilian casualties rose to unprecedented level earlier this year, the U.S. repeatedly labelled the Taliban’s level of violence as “unacceptable,” but did nothing about it, certainly not altering U.S. withdrawal plans, when the Taliban ignored the declarations. The Taliban knew there would be no penalty, nor was one imposed.
The Taliban claimed in 2020 that they would not harbor al-Qaeda. The actual Trump agreement text asserts the Taliban would “prevent” al-Qaeda from threatening the U.S., and would also “prevent them from recruiting, training, and fundraising and will not host them.”
In reality, as the UN reported, the Taliban hosted al-Qaeda commanders, who helped the Taliban plan their campaign, and hundreds of al-Qaeda members fought alongside Taliban fighters even while the Taliban denied it. The Taliban did claim they would prevent al-Qaeda attacking America. Again Washington ignored this lack of faith and pushed for more talks.
Now with Kabul fallen, the Taliban’s thinly veiled dissembling continues, lately at a late August news conference.
The Taliban say that former members of the government and armed forces are safe and welcome in the new ultra-Islamic Afghanistan. Or as they put it, “nobody is going to knock on their door” at night.
In reality the UN and eyewitnesses have confirmed that the Taliban are going door to door to arrest people they consider to be undesirable. They steal victims’ cars, evict families from their houses and kill them, even those who registered with the Taliban under amnesty. One estimate puts the death toll in Kandahar Province alone at 800. The US has not condemned these acts beyond vapid pleas that the Taliban respect human rights.
In fact the Taliban also admitted to reporters that Afghan soldiers who had conducted operations were “abusers and they will be chased and investigated.” This means the Taliban have carte blanche to knock on any door at any time, and its pledge of safety is meaningless. The U.S. has not called that out.
The Taliban have demanded brides as war booty from the areas it occupied.
The list goes on. Another Taliban lie, that media can operate freely, is accompanied by restrictions: News reports must follow the “national interest” and “Islamic values.” These edicts belie a free media. Again, the U.S. has done or said nothing about this.
The Taliban have shown their true colors. Their propaganda paints one picture while they do another, and often their true intentions are barely disguised. But the U.S. government either fails to condemn or act, or both, to stop it.
Darkness is falling in Kabul. Pictures of women’s faces adorning the walls of beauty salons are gone, whitewashed under the new Taliban rules. The Taliban are shooting anti-Taliban demonstrators. Yet America is waiting to see what the Taliban government will look like.
It is time to act. The U.S. repeatedly told the Taliban they would be a “pariah state” if they took over by force. America must for once match words with actions. No direct aid to the Taliban and no recognition or cooperation of any kind. No pretending that “engagement” will make the Taliban kinder and gentler. Recognize the claims of Vice President Amrullah Saleh that he became the legitimate government leader the moment President Ashraf Ghani unconstitutionally fled the country. Support Saleh and his ally Ahmad Massoud in the Panshir Valley, with money and supplies if necessary.
Freezing Kabul central bank assets was a good first step, but allowing the CIA director to meet the Taliban in Kabul was a disturbing signal. Once the evacuation is over, we must take a hard line to make the life of this illegitimate Taliban regime as difficult as possible. If we continue to speak loudly while wielding no stick at all our words will continue to mean nothing.
Douglas Grindle is a former reporter who spent six years covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and four years in southern Afghanistan as a US Government field researcher and development officer. He is the author of “How We Won and Lost the War in Afghanistan.”