West should refrain from blocking steps to improve regional cooperation with Afghanistan: ICG

Western countries should refrain from blocking efforts to improve regional cooperation with Afghanistan, the International Crisis Group said in a report on Tuesday.

The group said that as most of the world shuns the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) over women’s and girls’ rights, countries in the region around Afghanistan are dealing with the Islamic Emirate to address their needs for security and economic stability.

Regional airlines want to resume flights to Kabul but have not done so because the radar system at the airport is deemed unsafe. Regional diplomats complain that new equipment has been purchased but remains stuck in Europe due to sanctions, ICG said.

It added that regional banks want to facilitate transactions with Afghanistan, but U.S. banks often forbid them from doing so.

“Western donors discussing development policy options for Afghanistan should also involve governments from the region in their deliberations – even if regional actors are not donors themselves, decisions made in such meetings can bear directly on their economic wellbeing as well,” the report said.

According to the group, many steps toward regional cooperation do not involve Western donors, but those countries have a stake in the results. “Europeans, especially, would benefit from a stable, self-sufficient region that is not a major source of illegal drugs, migrants or terrorism.”

ICG said that many regional countries have welcomed the appointment of IEA envoys in their capitals, claiming that such representation does not amount to implicit or explicit recognition, but it is a “technical” prerequisite for managing co-existence with Afghanistan.

“These working-level relationships are likely to proliferate. It is even possible that, in the future, some countries could break with the Western-led consensus and officially recognise the regime,” it said.

The report comes a day after Kabul hosted a meeting of diplomats from 11 neighboring and regional countries and proposed establishing a “region-centric narrative aimed at developing regional cooperation for a positive and constructive engagement between Afghanistan and regional countries.”