Michael Hughes: A number of UNSC members in March of 2023 agreed that the Taliban needed to be held accountable for treatment of women, human rights abuses, and violations of international law. Last July, the Security Council released a disturbing report that shined a bright light on the Taliban-terrorist nexus plaguing Afghanistan. UN member states cited concerns over the Taliban’s burgeoning solidarity with al-Qaeda and other extremist outfits. Since the fall of Kabul hardly a week went by without the U.S. and its allies calling on the Taliban to stop being the Taliban. Literally the entire world vowed to withhold legitimacy until the Taliban implemented reforms. My, how things change.
One cannot turn around without reading about the Taliban securing some political or economic gain in exchange for, well, nothing. A state will endow the Taliban with such and such a gift while calling on the group to establish an inclusive government and “yadda, yadda, yadda.” But the Taliban do not really commit to anything.