It has been about a month since the Taliban formed their government after forcibly taking over Kabul.

But still there is no  international recognition for the regime. Interestingly, the US, Pakistan, Qatar who were actively involved and taking credit for  the Doha Agreement, have held back their recognition.

Who will then be the first to recognise the Taliban regime ?

No country wants to take the lead, not even the US, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, China and Turkey, who were seen taking credit for felicitating the so-called Doha deal. The Doha Peace Process was steered by the  US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, now Taliban deputy prime minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Qatari national security advisor Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Mesned, UK chief of defence staff Nick Carter and Pakistani army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Though details of the deal were never shared with the international community, there was  hectic behind the scenes activity. Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi supported the Taliban takeover of Kabul.

“It is for countries that are privy to the Doha accord which should recognise the Taliban regime first as no one is aware of the details of the agreement. After what the Taliban has done to Afghanistan, those involved in the  Doha deal have no right to question any other country on human rights abuses, the Hindustan Times reports quoting a former Indian foreign secretary.

After the Taliban’s present Interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, a designated terrorist took over Kabul with the support of the ISI on August 15, a jubilant Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan congratulated the Taliban for breaking the shackles of slavery. The ISI chief Faiz Hameed landed in Kabul to help the insurgent group to form the interim government. But with all support given to the insurgent group, Pakistan has not recognised the regime, unlike in 1996, when Islamabad was the first country to do so.

“Pakistan alone recognising the Taliban would not make much difference but a joint recognition of regional powers and neighbours would be a better solution,” Imran Khan told TRT World recently.

Khan called on Western governments to deal with the Taliban. Islamabad is considered to have close ties with the Taliban, many of whose leadership stayed in Pakistan during the 20 years of war against the US “occupation.”.

But the international community will not recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan as they have failed to fulfil the demand of an inclusive government and human rights including women’s rights. In a recent QUAD summit, leaders of India, United States, Japan and Australia discussed the situation in Afghanistan.

"International community will not recognise any power that comes by force. Another demand was of an inclusive government, even that's not fulfilled. The Taliban government has  14 ministers who are proscribed terrorists. Pakistan was involved in the government formation; the ISI chief was in Kabul just before the government was formed. That’s actually a big issue for the Taliban, because figures involved in their current interim government, such as the head of the Haqqani Network who’s in the Interior Ministry, are wanted criminals in a good part of the world,” says one source to indianarrative.com

But Khan is unequivocally sympathetic to the Taliban. The Pakistan PM said the world should give the Islamists more “time” before judging their record on human rights and governance, a line echoed by his master, the Pakistan army. He told TRT World confidently that  the US will “sooner or later” have to recognise the Taliban, which now rules Afghanistan.

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