Ronald Newman, the former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, said the Taliban administration\u2019s restrictions on women and girls remain the biggest obstacle to reopening the U.S. embassy in Kabul and to bringing Washington closer to the group. He stressed that ignoring the issue could trigger a strong political backlash in the United States.<\/p>\n
In an interview with i24 News, Newman said that if the Taliban administration wants the U.S. embassy reopened and Washington also sees it as serving its interests, the United States should demand concrete action, not promises of future change. According to him, reopening the embassy without securing a clear concession would send the Taliban administration the message that it can move closer to its goals without changing its stance.<\/p>\n
He added that despite deep differences, Washington has been forced into limited engagement with the Taliban administration because of certain practical considerations. According to Newman, these contacts have focused mainly on the release of detained Americans in Afghanistan and on counterterrorism.<\/p>\n
The former U.S. ambassador also said the Taliban administration has not only failed to moderate its policies after retaking control of Afghanistan, but has intensified pressure and restrictions on women. He described the Taliban administration\u2019s interpretation of Islam as a view that, in his words, does not align with that of many Muslim countries.<\/p>\n
Newman warned that a complete end to U.S. engagement with Afghanistan could also carry costs for Washington. He said past experience has shown that distancing itself from Afghanistan could ultimately have security consequences for the United States.<\/p>\n
He also said Afghanistan\u2019s mineral resources may one day become one of the incentives for U.S. engagement with the country, but that serious investment in this sector is out of reach under current conditions. According to him, the lack of lasting security, reliable investment and stronger rule of law are among the main obstacles in this area.<\/p>\n
Newman also said the Taliban administration, before returning to power and during the Doha negotiations, wanted to maintain political relations with Washington. According to him, the group\u2019s main demand at the time was the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
The U.S. embassy in Kabul has been closed since August 2021, when American forces withdrew and the previous government collapsed, and U.S. diplomatic affairs related to Afghanistan have been handled from outside the country. The U.S. has not recognized the Taliban administration so far, while Russia has done so, and China and several regional countries have also expanded their political and economic ties with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former U.S. envoy Ronald Newman says women\u2019s restrictions are blocking the reopening of the U.S. embassy in Kabul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,4,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-politics","category-secondary-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20240","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=20240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}