AnalysisAs Afghanistan’s neighbours jostle for influence over Taliban, divisions emerge

Divergent interests after the Taliban takeover will emerge at next week’s SCO summit in Tajikistan which will include China, Pakistan, Iran, India and Russia

Analysts say it is too early to tell if Afghanistan’s neighbours will work together, amid concerns over Pakistan’s dominant influence

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Taliban members and airport staff are seen outside Kabul’s airport. While the new regime in Afghanistan seeks diplomatic recognition, its neighbours are working out how to deal with its takeover. Photo: AP

Published: 6:30pm, 10 Sep 2021Updated: 7:48pm, 10 Sep 2021

Splits have developed between Afghanistan’s neighbours as they compete for influence over the new Taliban regime, threatening to divide the six countries into competing camps.

Iran’s newly-elected hardline government abandoned its neutral wait-and-see approach on Monday, following the Taliban’s defeat of Afghan resistance forces in the Panjshir Valley.

Tehran also responded to unsubstantiated claims that Pakistan’s military had carried out drone strikes against the Taliban’s opponents, saying it had requested clarification. It chose to go public on the matter, despite a telephone conversation on Sunday between its new foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Since the Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 15, Qureshi has worked to unite Afghanistan’s neighbours on a single diplomatic platform to establish the primacy of their influence in Kabul and prevent them from being drawn into opposing geopolitical camps by their respective rivals in the region.

On Sunday, Pakistan hosted a videoconference between the Afghanistan envoys of all six neighbours, including Iran, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Tehran’s resistance to Islamabad’s extraordinary influence over the Taliban coincided with an unusually high profile visit to Kabul by the chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed.

The ISI has long been accused by the West of providing safe havens in Pakistan and other support to the Taliban, enabling the Islamist insurgents to survive the 20-year US-led Nato occupation of Afghanistan and ultimately seize power amid their withdrawal in August.