TALIBAN’S RELATIONS WITH THE NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES IN THE POST-2021 AFGHANISTAN

Abstract

The retake of Afghanistan by Taliban in 2021 was one of the most turning points in the history of Afghanistan. The retake has great symbolic significance for the neighboring countries, regional dynamics and global actors. The first era of Taliban’s Regime from 1996—2001 made the Afghan Taliban face with certain challenges and the US and allied partners had to fight against them for almost 20 years but the drawdown of the NATO Forces from Afghanistan, followed by the US-Taliban Peace Deal in 2020 and finally the rebirth of Taliban has been viewed as a victory of the latter. Today’s Taliban are different from the Taliban that ruled the country during the first era. They maintain good and friendly relations with the neighboring countries and want to move forward with trade, natural resources, investment, and dispute resolution, sending and receiving diplomatic ties with the world powers. Main objective of the study revolve around Taliban’s relations with the neighboring countries and the strategies adopted by Taliban to strengthen diplomatic and foreign relations.

Key Words: Afghanistan, Neighboring Countries, Strategy, Taliban