“Western powers no longer have leverage over the Taliban regime”, ensures Tuesday, October 12 on franceinfo Bertrand Badie, professor emeritus at Sciences Po Paris and specialist in international relations. While the European Union will announce to the G20 an aid program of around one billion euros for Afghanistan, part of which must be devoted to the protection of human rights, Bertrand Badie “It is difficult to see how the Taliban would carry out the wishes of Western diplomacy when China and Russia are prepared to provide more lasting assistance to the Afghan people”.
franceinfo: Is the situation in Afghanistan deteriorating?
Bertrand Badie: Yes, and it degrades in two ways. Emergency humanitarian aid is deteriorating, and when you abandon a patient who has been revived, it is no longer of much use! If the doctors do not take over with a long therapy, we will not have made great progress. This is no longer humanitarian, it is development. Afghanistan faces a humanitarian problem in the very short term, and in the medium and long term a development problem. This is probably what makes the matter serious in the future, but also on the diplomatic level. As the G20 meets, there are two trends. There are those who consider that there is no question of a true and lasting partnership with Afghanistan beyond this emergency aid, and those who consider that it is necessary to do a long-term job and of co-development with Afghanistan like China and Russia.
The EU releases a billion euros in aid but insists on respect for human rights, is it difficult to imagine that the Taliban respect these conditions?
Yes, it is a certain naivety because the Taliban have just taken power. We must not wait for them to align themselves with what the Westerners, whom they have defeated, demand of them. Western powers no longer have any real leverage over the Taliban regime. No one thinks of resuming war, regaining power, or driving out the Taliban again, so the Taliban does not feel directly threatened. It is difficult to see how they would carry out the wishes of Western diplomacy at a time when China, Russia, and other neighboring powers, such as Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, or even certain Gulf countries, are prepared to assist. in a more sustainable and structural way the Afghan people.
Are the Taliban also in a position of strength, while the West does not want Afghanistan to become a landmark for terrorist groups?
Ultimately, the real threat to the Taliban is twofold. There is this very unfavorable economic situation and the rise of terrorism. The two are linked. If the economic situation continues to deteriorate, a kind of highway will open up to certain groups and in particular to the Islamic State which is just waiting to take advantage of this situation. So there is a paradox. By refusing lasting aid to Afghanistan, the Western powers risk playing into the hands of the terrorist groups they fear.