Afghan Taliban builds ties despite rights pressure

Afghanistan's Taliban authorities have built working relationships with several countries five years after returning to power, even as most governments still deny them formal recognition and many Western states demand human rights reforms.

Russia remains the only country to have officially recognised the Taliban government. But Afghanistan's rulers are engaging with regional states, China, Britain and European Union members, largely over practical issues including trade, security, migration and humanitarian access.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the authorities seek relations with all countries and give particular importance to regional and neighbouring states because of economic ties.

Central Asian officials from Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan met in Kabul this year as landlocked states looked at trade routes through Afghanistan. Taliban officials have also promoted cross-border infrastructure and expanded mining, including with interest from Chinese and other foreign firms.

Formal investment remains limited, with many governments and investors wary of the Taliban authorities' lack of broad recognition. Many countries have also held back deeper ties over restrictions on women and girls, including rules that stop girls' education at age 12.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in 2025 for Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, accusing them of crimes against humanity over the persecution of women and girls. Afghan women remain banned from several places, including UN premises.

Migration has become one area of engagement with Europe. Taliban officials flew to Brussels in June for talks with 15 EU countries on returning failed asylum-seekers. An EU spokesperson told AFP that people with no legal right to stay in Europe must be returned.

Germany has been prominent in that effort. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said in July that Germany had deported an Afghan not convicted of any crime for the first time since the Taliban's 2021 return to power.

Regional diplomacy also grew after fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan this year. The UN said China hosted talks after hundreds of civilians were killed, while Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Malaysia were also involved in efforts to stop the fighting.

India has strengthened contacts with the Taliban authorities. New Delhi secured a sanctions waiver in 2025 so Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi could travel there, and India's UN envoy Harish Parvathaneni said in June that the current UN sanctions regime should reflect Afghanistan's changed political reality.