Five Years On: Assessing Governance, Stability and Foreign Relations under Taliban Rule

This analysis by Dr Lutfur Rahman, Senior Research Fellow at IPS, assesses five years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan from academic perspective, examining the balance between relative security gains and the country’s continuing domestic and regional challenges. The policy insight explores the Taliban’s reduction of large-scale violence and opium cultivation alongside Afghanistan’s worsening humanitarian conditions, healthcare and shelter needs, restrictions on women and minorities, and reports of extrajudicial killings. It also examines the Taliban’s limited international recognition, the presence of IS-KP and the National Resistance Front, and the competing strategic interests of the US, Russia, China, and Afghanistan’s neighboring countries. Importantly, the commentary highlights Pakistan’s security concerns arising from cross-border terrorism and argues that long-term stability in Afghanistan will require the Taliban to address domestic grievances, improve relations with neighboring states, and take effective action against terrorist groups.