Alwaght- Though after four years of the Taliban takeover of power in Afghanistan the world community is yet to recognize the group’s rule and new rulers have not realized the international demands, regional countries are seeking a solution to help stabilize Afghanistan through arranging meetings and holding talks over Afghanistan developments.
To this end, on Sunday, Iran’s foreign ministry hosted a meeting of neighbors of Afghanistan to discuss Afghanistan issues. The meeting was attended by representatives of Iran, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
Opening the meeting, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi outlined Tehran’s view on Afghanistan and South Asia developments. The top diplomat said that regional stability is possible within regional formats and without foreign interventions. Foreign ministry’s spokesman Ismail Baghaee said the meeting was arranged to reach a regional consensus and to find a solution to boost stability and security in the peripheral environment of the regional countries.
Participants in the Tehran meeting on Afghanistan underscored strengthening stability in the country, calling for enhanced regional convergence to address existing challenges. Key points of emphasis included the continuation of economic and trade ties with Afghanistan, readiness to assist in combating terrorism and drug trafficking, and efforts to de-escalate tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The negotiating delegations agreed to reconvene, scheduling the second round of this meeting for next March in Islamabad.
This Tehran session marks the first gathering of special envoys from Afghanistan’s neighboring countries. It forms part of a series of regional initiatives aimed at supporting peace and stability in Afghanistan, including the “Moscow Format,” whose seventh meeting was recently held with senior officials from Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Tehran is actively involved in most regional and international initiatives concerning Afghanistan. Due to its shared border, Iran has frequently hosted such meetings and continues to work with regional partners to help resolve the country’s internal issues.
Over the past four years, these forums have provided a platform for dialogue and coordination among neighboring states, leading to several practical measures.
These actions reflect a pragmatic approach by Iran and other nations to prevent a deepening of insecurity and political-economic instability in Afghanistan. Iran and neighboring countries have consistently expressed concern about escalating insecurity spilling over into their territories, repeatedly stressing the critical importance of Afghan stability in regional meetings. The presence of terrorist groups within Afghanistan heightens these concerns, as spreading instability could empower these groups, creating threats beyond its borders.
Furthermore, the massive wave of migration from Afghanistan into neighboring countries has imposed significant economic pressures and often substantial political, social, and security consequences, representing a primary concern for these states. Consequently, regional countries are striving through diplomatic support to both bolster Afghanistan’s internal security and control the flow of migration.
Integrating Afghanistan into regional trade
Trade was one of the main discussion points of Tehran summit to contribute to settling Afghanistan challenges and raise the country’s share from regional trade. Araghchi highlighted Afghanistan’s geoeconomic position as making the country the hub of connective networks of Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia. So, he added, stability in Afghanistan is not just a humanitarian but a strategic necessity.
Iran and other neighboring countries are seeking to leverage Afghanistan’s transit and trade potential to integrate it into regional and international economic networks, reduce its political isolation, and contribute to its stability and economic development. Integrating Afghanistan into regional corridors and trade networks presents vast opportunities for infrastructure development, increased exports and imports, job creation, and attracting investment.
Additionally, Afghanistan’s active participation in regional trade could help mitigate economic crises and migration driven by poverty and unemployment, while enhancing cooperation among nations. Such measures are ultimately expected to strengthen regional integration, boost economic security, stabilize relations between Afghanistan and its neighbors, and pave the way for the country’s reconstruction and sustainable development.
However, despite these diplomatic efforts at the regional level, as Araqchi also stressed, the root causes of Afghanistan’s crises must be sought beyond the region. The lasting stability of Afghanistan hinges on addressing these external factors.
Main Afghanistan problem is foreign interference
Though Taliban’s takeover has pushed Afghanistan into next level of political crises, the roots of a majority of the challenges of this Central Asian country is the 20-year occupation by the US and its allies whose consequences are still reverberating to date. This long period of foreign intervention gravely impacted Afghanistan’s economic and social structures and paved the way for insecurity, terrorism, drug production, displacement and immigration, identity disintegration, and keeping the country from growth.
A primary obstacle to restoring stability in Afghanistan remains the West’s crippling sanctions and the continued freeze of approximately $7 billion in Afghan foreign reserves held in Western banks. If the US were to release these blocked assets, a significant portion of the interim Taliban government’s financial crises, including paying civil servant salaries, providing basic public necessities, and reviving critical infrastructure, could be alleviated. For this reason, Afghanistan’s neighbors at the Tehran meeting reiterated their call for the West to lift sanctions and unfreeze Afghan assets.
Alleviating the economic crisis and improving public welfare would have a direct impact on reducing insecurity and creating a more manageable domestic environment. This dynamic is starkly illustrated by the migration wave from Afghanistan. The lack of any clear economic prospects has driven hundreds of thousands of Afghan citizens toward Iran and Central Asian nations. Therefore, the migration crisis is fundamentally rooted in economic insecurity and dire living conditions within Afghanistan. Improving the economic situation would significantly reduce these pressures, paving the way for refugees to return from neighboring countries and stemming the tide of mass migration.
Furthermore, relative economic and security stability would lay the groundwork for the international community to potentially engage more formally with the interim Taliban administration, increasing opportunities for diplomatic interaction and cooperation with other nations. Thus, these vast assets, which could serve as a crucial lifeline during the country’s dire crisis, are effectively held hostage. Washington appears to use them as leverage to extract concessions from the interim Taliban government, turning a potential tool for stabilization into an instrument of political pressure.
US strives to return to Bagram
A concession these days the American officials are pressing to wrest from the Taliban government is the return of the American forces to the Bagram airbase, a military base that played a key role in the US operations in Afghanistan and Central Asia from 2001 to 2023. The US President Donald Trump described this military infrastructure “one of the biggest airbases in the world”, highlighting its strategic significance as “it’s an hour from where Chin makes its nuclear weapons.”
Taliban’s leaders have repeatedly asserted they will not give any foreign power the control of the country’s military bases, while Washington insists. Analysts agree that Washington is pressing for Bagram because it wants to save its ground of competition with China in Afghanistan as the military base facilitates monitoring of the movements of China as a rival.
Foreign interventions, whether in the form of military occupation or through economic and political pressure, have consistently derailed Afghanistan’s path to independent governance and reconstruction. This is precisely why the countries participating in the Tehran meeting have unanimously opposed any new attempts to establish foreign military presence in Afghanistan. Emphasizing that Western nations bear primary responsibility for the current crisis, these regional actors have called on these same countries to cooperate in reconstruction and improving economic and welfare conditions, and to refrain from wielding economic tools for political leverage.
Experience demonstrates that whenever foreign intervention is cut off, local governments have gained the opportunity to establish internal stability, paving the way for the return of security and calm. Under such conditions, Afghanistan can rediscover its path to development and peace without becoming an arena for great power games and transnational rivalries. However, American policies and foreign interference have not only disrupted Afghanistan’s political stability, but also have also placed immense pressure on the security and welfare of its people.
Washington now signals a potential return to Afghanistan, despite its two-decade-long military presence having effectively dismantled the country’s social, political, and economic structures. The prolonged war, heavy civilian casualties, and the resulting dependence of state institutions on external support have severely crippled Afghanistan’s ability to build an independent and effective government.
Therefore, possible American return to Bagram can once again sink Afghanistan into insecurity. Two decades of military presence in Afghanistan not only failed to bring security to the country, but also catalyzed further crises. Actually, the US return in a context of surging competition with regional powers can afresh make Afghanistan a scene for geopolitical conflicts and deepen internal divisions. The bottom line is: Renewed US presence in Afghanistan poses a serious threat to the country’s sustainable stability and security while regional countries are seeking a solution to help stabilize this war-ravaged country.
