Afghanistan’s Instability: Impact on Central Asian Countries Research Paper

Internal Political Situation

After the withdrawal of the United States troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban took over power in Kabul. The geopolitical uncertainty of Central Asia has emerged because of the fear that the Afghan state might become a springboard for different terrorist groups in the region (Soliev and Pantucci 90). The past two years have shown no signs of terrorist attacks, but countering extremism and terrorism remained a security issue for the Central Asian states. It is mainly accrued to potential risks emerging from the activities and presence of Central Asian jihadist groups in neighbouring Afghanistan. The country is now under the Taliban rule after they took power in August 2021 (Soliev and Pantucci 91). In both conflict theatres, Central Asian fighters persist to fight under the control and protection of bigger militant groups, for example, the Taliban, Islamic State (IS), and Hay’ at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) (Pannier 3). Hence, the Taliban takeover of Kabul has come with complexity in security dilemmas along their borders.

Taliban Rule

Consequently, the major issue in regional security is militant groups in Central Asia that were fighting alongside the Taliban can exploit the current situation to refocus and regroup their attention against them. Central Asia has several ways to interlink through cross-border communities and porous borders, and connected economies bring them together (Cho 35). The prevalent military in Afghanistan could result in an unstable state, where the violence could overspill in other ways to the region (Pannier 6). Afghanistan hosts many Central Asian militant groups, as they operate under the Taliban’s control and protection (Soliev and Pantucci 90). The groups are used to conducting substantial attacks in the region from their sites in Afghanistan as they maintain their links with the Al-Qaeda and Taliban.

Furthermore, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan have depended on the Taliban to thwart non-state actors from launching their border attacks after the U.S. withdrew from the country. However, in recent months, the IS has attacked mosques in the Central Asia region bombing Uzbekistan (Cho 39). The region-worsening situation shows the limitations of their security strategies and it reveals that they need to have a few alternatives in addressing the new threat on their borders. The Taliban appears to be losing control of northern Afghanistan leading to security deterioration in the region (Pannier 10). Hence, Central Asian regimes cannot ignore what is happening across the border because of the potential benefits of expanding trade with South Asian states and it outweighs the uncertainties of working with the Taliban.

Human Right Violation

Unfortunately, after seizing power, the Taliban rule has imposed stern restrictions on girls’ and women’s rights, arbitrarily tortured, detained, and executed perceived opponents and critics in Afghanistan. Hence, the country is experiencing an increase in extrajudicial killings, torture, and detentions. As on June 2022, Afghanistan had recorded a minimum of 160 extrajudicial killings of security forces and government leaders (Akbari and True 2). In addition, they have ignored the basic services to improve the lives of citizens, such as healthcare and water. Afghans are grappling with the erosion of fundamental human rights nationwide (Altınay and Pető 12). They have suppressed media in the country despite the generally significant decline in armed violence (Ahmad and Mohammad 2040). Girls’ and women’s rights to involvement in the workplace, education, and other facets of daily and public life have been limited.

The Economic State that Led to the Humanitarian crisis

However, the Taliban’s controlling the country has resulted in international donors freezing assets worth billions of dollars and halting most non-humanitarians funding. They have been issued with economic sanctions and other limitations from the global community that has increased the dire humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan (Shahi 110). Without the financing, most healthcare facilities, and education, have shut down, and the economy has deteriorated as the state struggles with the current hunger and drought crisis. This has contributed to millions of Afghan being displaced across the borders to Central Asian countries (Ahmad and Mohammad 2040). The situation has escalated the humanitarian crises in the region due to the increased number of refugees and immigrants.

Works Cited

Ahmad, Ayesha, and Haqmal Mohammad. “A Year after the Taliban Took Power, Afghanistan Faces Economic and Humanitarian Crises.” BMJ, vol. 3, no. 1, 2022, p. 2040.

Akbari, Farkhondeh, and Jacqui True. “One year on from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan: re-instituting gender apartheid.” Australian Journal of International Affairs, vol. 1, no. 2, 2022, pp. 1-10.

Altınay, Ayşe G., and Andrea Pető. “Women’s courageous resistance to gender apartheid in Afghanistan: A conversation with Shaharzad Akbar.” European Journal of Women’s Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, 2022, pp. 1-17.

Cho, Sungtaek. “Afghanistan s Tribe Mosaic, Weak State, and Taliban Rule.” J-Institute, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022, pp. 31-41.

Pannier, Bruce. “Northern Afghanistan and the New Threat to Central Asia.” Foreign Policy Research Institute, vol. 1, no. 1, 2022, pp. 1-22.

Safi, Najibullah, et al. “Afghanistan’s health system under the Taliban: key challenges.” The Lancet, vol. 400, no. 10359, 2022, pp. 1179-1180.

Shahi, D. K. “Afghanistan and its neighbourhood challenges and opportunities of international interaction.” Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, vol. 12, no. 6, 2022, pp. 106-118.

Soliev, Nodirbek, and Raffaello Pantucci. “Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses.” International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, vol. 14, no. 1, 2022, pp. 90-98.