The Diplomat magazine has reported that US policy after the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan in 2021 has shifted from extensive political and human rights pressure on the Taliban administration to a strategy of “selective engagement” on specific issues; an approach that, according to the publication, has significantly lowered Afghanistan\u2019s priority in Washington\u2019s foreign policy agenda.<\/p>\n
According to the report, the United States still does not recognize the Taliban administration as the legitimate government of Afghanistan and continues to emphasize the formation of an inclusive government and respect for human rights, especially the rights of women and minorities. However, after the closure of the US embassy in Kabul on August 31, 2021, the “Afghanistan Affairs Unit” in Qatar has become the center for Washington\u2019s diplomatic contacts. Both sides have held discussions on issues such as counterterrorism, prisoner exchanges, and the evacuation of American citizens.<\/p>\n
Gregory Lugerfu, the US State Department\u2019s coordinator for counterterrorism, stated that Washington contacts the Taliban administration only when engagement aligns with specific American security interests. Nevertheless, the diplomat emphasized that even these limited contacts hold political significance for the Taliban administration, as any negotiation with foreign officials can help strengthen its position as the de facto ruler of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
The report also highlights changes in US foreign aid and migration policies. According to The Diplomat, since October 2021, the Biden administration has allocated over $3.8 billion in humanitarian and development aid to Afghanistan, whereas the Trump administration halted the majority of such aid from 2025 onwards. Additionally, resettlement programs for Afghans who collaborated with US forces have been suspended, and the processing of special immigrant visas has been put on hold, leaving thousands of applicants\u2019 futures uncertain.<\/p>\n
The Diplomat identifies prisoner exchange negotiations as one of the few remaining channels between the two sides and notes that although Washington sometimes describes this process as “hostage diplomacy,” the Taliban administration uses these talks to demonstrate its control over the country and to engage directly with foreign powers.<\/p>\n
The magazine also recalls that despite the initial US emphasis on women’s rights during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, this issue lacked prominence in the 2020 Doha negotiations between the US and the Taliban. According to The Diplomat, the Taliban has managed to maintain its control over Afghanistan while expanding relations with countries such as Russia and India without accepting the core demands of the international community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US has shifted from heavy pressure to selective engagement with the Taliban, maintaining limited diplomatic contacts and pausing major aid and resettlement programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}