In anticipation of the forthcoming Afghanistan Pledging Conference, I attended a seminar in which the desperate plight of the situation in Afghanistan was brought home to us: the economy has collapsed and people are starving. The obscenity is that food is available but there is no cash to buy it. The plea, which was made by western charities, was for more Aid and for a solution to the liquidity problem by unfreezing assets held by the Afghan Central Bank overseas and committed to Afghanistan before Taliban takeover.
The presenters insisted that there is now an opportunity to influence the Taliban by the generosity of our response, and that were we not to do so, that influence would instead be acquired by China and Russia with their rather less delicate sensitivities.
I ventured that it was my prejudice that the response of the West would be conditioned by the willingness of the Taliban to demonstrate their commitment to the undertakings they have given on Women’s Rights and to no reprisals against servants of the former regime. Alas, the day after that seminar, the Taliban cancelled the return of girls to secondary schools.
Another question on which we might reflect, given our 20 year commitment to Afghanistan in blood and treasure, is this: As we look at the example of Ukrainians fighting to the death for their country, why was it that such a will to resist on the part of the whole of civil society was not so evident in Afghanistan?