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Is a power vacuum looming?
A Taliban fighter oversees a game of cricket in the Afghan capital, Kabul
Photo: AAMIR QURESHI / AFP
The Taliban have taken power in Afghanistan - but according to US Chief of Staff Mark Milley, not in the long run. The general assumes that the country could soon slide into civil war once the international troops have withdrawn. "I don't know whether the Taliban will be able to consolidate their position of power and establish a government," Milley told Fox News in an interview at Ramstein Air Force Base in Rhineland-Palatinate. "My military assessment is that the situation is likely to develop into civil war."
Such a development could in turn lead to terror groups taking advantage of the power vacuum in Afghanistan, warned Milley. It is to be feared that al-Qaeda will regroup, that the extremists of the “Islamic State” (IS) will expand their influence “or that a large number of other terrorist groups” will spread out in the Hindu Kush. “It could be that within 12, 24 or 36 months we will see how terrorism re-emerges from this region. And we will watch it. "
With the withdrawal of the last US soldiers from Kabul airport on Tuesday night, the international mission in Afghanistan came to an end after almost 20 years.
The US government's most important argument in favor of the troop withdrawal was that the Al-Qaeda terrorist network had in fact been broken up and was no longer able to attack targets in the US from there.
New terror nest
However, according to the United Nations, al-Qaeda was already present in almost every second Afghan province before the withdrawal of international troops.
IS is also present in the region again.
Its offshoot "Islamic State-Khorasan" (IS-K) had killed almost 200 people in a suicide attack outside the gates of Kabul airport.
The international community is now struggling to deal with the new Islamist rulers in Kabul - also to prevent greater dangers.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wants to lead a virtual ministerial meeting of 20 countries on Afghanistan with Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) in Germany next week.
Vying for diplomatic recognition
On the initiative of UN Secretary General António Guterres, a high-level meeting is planned for September 13 in Geneva to discuss humanitarian aid for the country.
Guterres' spokesman made it clear that aid to Afghanistan should be conditional.
In recent weeks, the Taliban have repeatedly promised to be more moderate than during their first rule in the 1990s.
Back then, the Islamists were notorious for cruel executions and the exclusion of women from public life.
Internationally, the Taliban are also looking to join forces with China, which has already announced that it intends to maintain “friendly relations” with the new rulers in Kabul.
The Taliban themselves are also hoping for support from Germany - in the form of diplomatic recognition such as money.
mrc / dpa / AFP