When the US and Taliban signed Doha Accord on 29 February 2020, the world was promised an end to the decades-long war. The accord had two central pillars: establishment of an inclusive Afghan government through intra-Afghan dialogue and a firm Taliban commitment to prevent Afghan soil from being used against other states. These were not symbolic gestures but written undertakings meant to secure Afghanistan's reintegration into international order.

Five years later, those promises stand broken. Afghan Taliban have gained diplomatic legitimacy, political concessions and substantial financial benefits from international community, yet they have failed to honour core terms of the agreement in Doha and subsequent commitments, including 2024 Trilateral Accord with Pakistan and the UAE.

First pillar of Doha Accord required Taliban to engage in dialogue with other Afghan factions to form an inclusive government. To build confidence, 5,000 Taliban prisoners were released on condition they renounce militancy and back a political settlement. Instead, almost all of them returned to combat. Rather than engaging with the Ashraf Ghani administration in an intra-Afghan dialogue, Taliban intensified their insurgency and seized Kabul in August 2021, just a year and a half after Doha Accord and imposed a government dominated by their militant leadership.

That government remains deeply exclusionary. Afghanistan's 14 recognised ethnic groups, including Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Uzbek 9%, Hazara 8%, are barely represented in a 49-member cabinet. The country's population is roughly 89% Sunni and 11% Shia, yet Taliban have entirely excluded Shia and other sectarian........

© The Express Tribune