Strategic aid failure
According to a recent report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), over 64% of US aid to Afghanistan has been routed through UN agencies and the World Bank's Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund. While some humanitarian aid has helped prevent famine, SIGAR found no evidence that this funding has influenced Taliban policies or moderated their rule. The broader strategic objectives of counterterrorism, human rights protections and governance reforms remain unfulfilled. The failure of aid as a bargaining tool is particularly evident in the Taliban's continued crackdown on women's rights and the suppression of dissent. Unlike other regimes that have historically adjusted their policies in exchange for financial incentives, the Taliban have shown no interest in reform, nor do they appear concerned about international legitimacy. This defiance renders conditional aid ineffective, as the group has demonstrated a willingness to govern in isolation rather than compromise.
Yet, withdrawing aid entirely is not a straightforward solution. Millions of Afghans depend on humanitarian assistance for survival, and an abrupt halt could push the country deeper into crisis. The challenge lies in restructuring aid distribution ensuring that it reaches the vulnerable population without empowering any form of oppression. This may require bypassing state-controlled mechanisms and strengthening community-based and non-governmental aid delivery.
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Express Tribune
17 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Religion becoming the governing philosophy in Pak neighborhood?
Listen to article The question asked in the title of this essay is important to answer for Pakistan. This I will do in the article that will follow in this space next week. Today, I will look at the way governance is understood in the country's neighborhood. Of the country's four neighbours, three have used religion in order to gain political legitimacy. China is the only neighbour that is using social and economic growth for attracting political support from the citizenry. The other three – Afghanistan, India and Iran – have turned to religion to provide the basis of governance. I will first write about the three states in the country's neighbourhood, before speculating about Pakistan's political future. After a struggle that lasted for more than two decades and involved military actions by two superpowers: first what was then the Soviet Union and then followed by the United States. Moscow sent its troops in 1979 to save from collapse of the Communist regime it had installed in Kabul. The Soviet invasion was resisted by several Islamic groups called "mujahedeen" who came together and fought against Moscow's troops. After losing a large number of soldiers and spending a fortune to win the struggle, Mikhail Gorbachev, then the leader of Soviet Union, signed what history was to be called the "Geneva accord". This was in 1989 which allowed Moscow to pull out its troops without being challenged by the Islamic fighters. The accord did not have any provision about the form of governance that would succeed the Soviet pullout. President Ziaul Haq, Pakistan's third military ruler, had told me in a meeting with him that he had used the provision in the Constitution that he had inserted before bringing civilian leadership into the government. Article 58-2(b) in the amended Constitution allowed the president to fire the prime minister and his entire cabinet and dissolve the national assembly. This he could do if he was not satisfied with the way the government was operating. He said he removed the government headed by Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo after he had advised him not to sign the Geneva Accord before it was determined who would head the government in Kabul and how the new rulers would govern. "By getting the Soviet Union to pull out its troops, a political vacuum would be created and the mujahedeen who had vanquished the Soviet Union would fall on one another," said Zia. History was to prove that he had made the correct prediction. After a prolonged internal struggle which also involved American intervention, Kabul was to be ruled by the Taliban. This was a group made up of the students who had been taught in the seminaries established in the tribal belt that lay between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Taliban" is the Arabic word for students. The Taliban governed from Kabul after imposing what they believed was the right way to govern a Muslim-majority state. The most prominent part of Taliban's governance is the severe reduction in the status of women in the Islamic society. Religion was also behind the movement that pushed out the ruling monarch from power in Iran and introduced a form of government in which clerics subscribing to Shiism became the rulers with total power. The clerics have an ayatollah as the supreme leader who is the ultimate decision-maker. When the ruler came under pressure from a religiously inclined population, the emperor fled from the country. That was the right moment for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to return to the country he had left. In 1976, he flew back on a plane from Paris to Tehran and was greeted upon his arrival by a wildly enthusiastic crowd. He founded the Islamic State of Iran and appointed himself as the Supreme Leader. This system came into being when Emperor Reza Shah Pahlavi who had ruled over the country for decades was not able to control the rising religious movement that wanted a system of governance based on religion. The founder of the state headed by Islamic clerics had a provision for selecting a new leader if the one who was the leader died. The successor when the founder died was chosen by a council of senior clerics. The council chose Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the new supreme leader after the death of the founder. Following the tradition set by his predecessor, the new head of the state expressed disdain for Iran's pre-Islamic past, calling that a time of "illusion, not a source of pride that was afflicted by corruption and dictatorship". However, after attacks by Israel and the United States in the late spring of 2025, Khamenei gave a speech in which he repeatedly praised the country's "ancient civilisation" and boasted that Iran has "cultural and civilisational wealth" far greater than that of America. The verbal attack on the United States followed the American bombing of the sites where Iran was reported to be producing enriched uranium that could be used for making a nuclear bomb. By stressing Iran's cultural rather than religious identity, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei "sought to rally a population that was not only rattled by the 12 days of Israeli strikes but that also has, in large measure, soured on the clerics who rule the Islamic republic and the religious ideology that defines how society is governed," wrote Yeganeh Torbati in an assessment of the Iranian situation for The Washington Post. "This new nationalist tone comes at a time when top officials have repeatedly cited what they say is 'national cohesion and unity', emerging in the country in response to the Israeli and U.S. strikes in June." While developments in Afghanistan and Iran have brought religion into governance, India is also headed in that direction. Narendra Modi who had led the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party, the BJP, to victory in the elections held in 2014 vowed to bring what he called "Hindutva" as the principle of governance. Modi was reelected in 2019 and 2024 and would govern India at least until 2029. By the end of his current term, he would have served in this position for 15 years, the second longest rule after Jawaharlal Nehru who was the founder of the independent state of India. Nehru was prime minster for 17 years. Nehru believed in an inclusive state that served India's very diverse population. Modi has opted to create a Hindu state in which those who subscribe to other religions will have a lower status.
Express Tribune
3 days ago
- Express Tribune
Islamabad, Kabul upgrade envoys status
Pakistan and Afghanistan have officially elevated their diplomatic engagement to the ambassadorial level, a move that marks a significant step in normalising bilateral relations amid ongoing regional tensions. The two sides decided to upgrade their diplomatic relationship in May when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts to broker a deal. On Friday, Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said that the Chargé d'Affaires (CDAs) in both capitals had been upgraded to the rank of ambassador through mutual agreement. "The bilateral relations between the two countries are now at the ambassadorial level. And that process, in our view, is complete," he said during his weekly news briefing. He added that the Afghan envoy in Islamabad now enjoys protocol reserved for a full-time ambassador, and "no further action is required" in this regard. Normally, ambassadors present their credentials to the president as part of the protocol but in the Afghan ambassador's case, the Foreign Office said no such formality was needed. Although Pakistan decided to upgrade their ties, there is no plan yet to officially recognise the Taliban government. Currently, Russia is the only country which has recognised the Taliban government. Even as both sides formally upgraded their ties, the Taliban energy minister on Friday alleged that Pakistan never wanted to see a "strong and stable central Afghan government". But the Foreign Office spokesperson dismissed those concerns as unfounded. Responding to a question on recent minister's remarks, Shafqat said: "the statement completely belies common sense, history and the facts." He reiterated Islamabad's longstanding view that no country has a greater interest in a peaceful and stable Afghanistan than Pakistan. On the persistent security concerns along the western border, particularly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Khan reiterated Pakistan's position that the issue of cross-border terrorism remains a central concern in its talks with Afghan authorities. "We have, on a number of occasions, highlighted that the issue of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan is a centrepiece of our conversations with the Afghan government. We have been drawing their attention to the fact that terrorists enjoy sanctuaries in Afghanistan," he said. He also underscored Islamabad's concerns over Indian involvement in destabilising activities within Pakistan. "We have evidence about India's involvement in fanning terrorism in Pakistan, we have shared those with our friendly countries and will keep highlighting it," he added. On the possibility of the Afghan Foreign Minister's visit, the spokesperson said no dates had been finalised yet. "If a visit is finalised, the Foreign Ministry makes an announcement. The two sides are still working. I would reiterate that as soon as the dates are finalised, we will officially announce." Earlier, Afghan Interim Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi was scheduled to travel to Pakistan on a three-day visit on August 4 but the visit was postponed at the last minute due to a "technical issue."
Express Tribune
4 days ago
- Express Tribune
Influx of Afghan returnees fuels Kabul housing crisis
Zahra Hashimi fears being evicted from a single basement room that has served as her home since she and her family returned from Iran. Her husband, who works odd jobs, earns about 80 Afghanis per day (a little over a dollar), not enough to pay the rent for the property, which has no electricity or running water. More than 2.1 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan and Iran so far this year, according to the United Nations refugee agency. They join earlier rounds of mass expulsions from the neighbouring countries, deported or driven out by fear of arrest. Multiple Kabul property dealers told AFP that rental prices had skyrocketed with the influx of returnees. "Since landlords noticed that refugees (from Iran and Pakistan) were returning, they doubled their rents," said real estate agent Hamed Hassani, calling for the government to "intervene". "We have many refugees who come to ask us for an apartment to rent, and most of them cannot afford what's available," he said. The housing pressures have affected long-time Kabul residents also. Tamana Hussaini, who teaches sewing in the west of Kabul, where rents are lower, said her landlord wants to raise the 3,000 Afghani rent for their three-bedroom apartment. The family of eight tried to move out, but "rents are too high. It's a frustrating situation where you can't stay, but you can't leave either." Weeks after he was forced to return from Iran, Mohammad Mohsen Zaryab was still searching for somewhere to live in Kabul, where rental prices have soared along with an influx of Afghans expelled from neighbouring countries. Zaryab, fled with their meagre belongings to Kabul, expecting the swelling city of eight million to offer the best prospects of finding work in a country where half the population lives below the poverty line. The 47-year-old factory worker, begged landlords to bring down prices of accommodation for his family of eight, only to be told, "If you can't pay, someone else will". He had expected when he returned in July to find more solidarity for Afghans coming "from far away with no home". A year ago, a three-room house would on average cost 10,000 Afghanis ($145) per month, but renters now pay 20,000, said Nabiullah Quraishi, the head of a property dealership. The cost amounts to a fortune for the majority of Afghanistan's 48 million people, 85 percent of whom live on less than one dollar a day, according to the UN. Two years ago, multiple landlords would come to Quraishi's business every month seeking help renting their property. Now, demand outstrips supply, he said. The municipality denies any housing crisis in the city. Major urban development plans, which include building new roads even if it means bulldozing numerous residences, are further straining housing access. "Seventy-five percent of the city was developed unplanned," municipality spokesman Nematullah Barakzai told AFP. "We don't want this to happen again."
