How Afghanistan’s Taliban can prove it’s new and improved: Expel the terrorists

As we ponder what lies ahead for Afghanistan, this has been a time to reflect on what we’ve lost as a result of 9/11: the 2,977 killed and the 6,000 Americans and foreign nationals injured that day; the 2,461 American service members and 3,846 U.S. contractors killed over the past 20 years of war; and the 1,144 allied service members, 444 aid workers and 72 journalists also killed during these two decades. With more than $2 trillion spent on the war, we should never forget that the new government in Kabul — the Taliban — is the old government that caused this horrific loss of life.

The stark reality is that global radicalism is still with us. And despite the progress the U.S. initially made against al Qaeda, this terrorist organization still exists with some of its leaders and fighters continuing to reside in Afghanistan’s border region with Pakistan. According to a United Nations May 2021 report to the U.N. Security Council, 8,000 to 10,000 foreign fighters from Central Asia, the North Caucasus of the Russian Federation, the Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, al Qaeda and ISIS-K all continue to reside in Afghanistan.

As we’ve seen, the Taliban just formed an interim government composed of all men — hardliners committed to Islamic fundamentalism under Sharia law. There should be no ambiguity on the governance philosophy of a government that named Sirajuddin Haqqani as its interior minister, responsible for internal security. Haqqani is on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, with a reward of $10 million for information leading to his arrest. The Haqqani Network, a terrorist organization with ties to al Qaeda, was responsible for several attacks that killed Americans.

Despite Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid’s positive comments promising women’s rights, media freedom and amnesty for former government officials, recent history tells us this won’t happen. When the Taliban held power from 1996 to 2001, there were no rights for women and girls; there was fear and despair when schools were closed for girls, and women were forbidden to work. The Taliban now claims that it will be different — girls can study and women can work, with the caveat “as permitted by Islam.” 

How can anyone forget the images of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the world’s tallest Buddhas, being blown up and destroyed in March 2001 on orders from Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar? Or the images of the public stoning, flogging, amputations and executions during this period?

Over 60 percent of the Taliban’s revenue — from $100 million to $400 million, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction — came from taxes on or and the processing and trafficking of the country’s opium crop, with high-grade heroin flooding the European market and increasing amounts reaching the U.S. 

Many of the Taliban leaders remain under international sanctions. The country has been cut off from the international financial system, with the cessation of aid and Afghan Central Bank assets frozen in the West. The country is in dire economic need of foreign aid and assistance, much of which will not be available until the Taliban government provides assurances to Western governments and international financial institutions that girls’ and women’s human rights will be respected, media freedoms will be restored, and former government officials will receive the amnesty they need. 

Global radicalism affects all countries, and the terrorists’ goal of a “great caliphate” should be of concern to all nations. If the Taliban wants to turn the page and seek international recognition, in return for the lifting of sanctions and access to international aid and assistance, they should immediately expel those terrorist organizations still residing in Afghanistan and commit to the eradication of the lucrative opium crop and the introduction, with international assistance, of a crop substitution program for Afghan farmers who rely on the cultivation of poppies for their livelihood.  

These actions — in addition to implementing a program that provides education for girls and work for women, while moving forward with its announced amnesty program for former government workers — would be initial positive steps that could portend a more enlightened and less threatening Taliban government.

The Taliban can prove the critics wrong. But until they take these and other positive actions, the international community should continue to deny recognition to a government that was responsible for the 9/11 attack on the United States.

Joseph R. DeTrani is the former director of the National Counterproliferation Center and a former senior officer of the CIA. The views expressed here are the author’s and do not imply endorsement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence or any other U.S. government agency.