Following the devastating earthquake that demolished southern Turkey and parts of northwestern Syria, the Taliban has announced that they will be sending over $100k in humanitarian aid. Their spokesperson has stated that they are sending this money on the basis of “shared humanity and Islamic brotherhood.” Simultaneously, Afghanistan is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis; its economy has tanked and it’s an unnaturally cold and harsh winter. Civilians are dying, but as NGOs from around the world attempt to send aid, the Taliban outlaws them from sending women volunteers. No country has recognized the Taliban as a legitimate government.
The Taliban sending aid to another country when they can’t even help their own citizens is perplexing. They are known around the world as a terrorist group, and it makes me think that they lack a sense of self-awareness to think that if they send aid and start acting like a formal government externally, the world will treat them as such. It is interesting to see news about the Taliban’s foreign affairs, anything I’ve heard about them in the past has been about them being terrorists, not posing as a government, no matter how flimsy. It’s scary to see the Taliban doing something nice, however, because I’m sure there are some that could start to back them if they attempt to de-radicalize their views and become a functioning state, and spread their ideologies. Additionally, does the Taliban realize that sending money to Turkey for aid means sending money to the entire population of Turkey? Not just the men?
This relates to what we’re doing in class because the Taliban clearly has geopolitical goals; they wouldn’t be sharing money with other countries if they didn’t. It seems that the Taliban is looking to extend its ideological power into other parts of the world and sending the message that they’re a functioning government is the first step.