Regional Response to the Taliban’s Return to Power

This chapter offers an overview of how regional states and major powers have responded to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s internal and external settings have historically and inextricably been influenced by competing interests of regional and international players. This paradigm has not drastically changed since the Taliban’s reassumption of power following the retreat of U.S. and allied forces from the country in August 2021. Afghanistan’s neighbours and major powers, along with the rest of the global community, have not found it politically and ethically expedient to accord formal recognition to the Taliban’s de facto government. However, they have made certain adjustments in their attitudes toward it, based on two imperatives. One is to ensure that the Taliban’s ideological and empirical extremism does not affect their national situations; the other is that they are in a position to advance their individual interests vis-à-vis one another when desirable or required. This is the context in which Afghanistan’s neighbours and major powers have conducted their policies towards it under the Taliban.