While a U.S. delegation traveled to Kabul to secure the release of U.S. citizens in Taliban custody, Afghanistan‘s de facto government requested long-awaited recognition from its American counterparts. Ariana News reported last week that the Taliban delegates asked U.S. representatives to hand over the Afghan Embassy in Washington, D.C., and to reopen the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
The delegates’ visit was successful, with American citizens George Glezmann being released on March 20 and Faye Hall being released on March 29. Despite these incredible exchanges, the Trump administration is unprepared to acquiesce to the Taliban’s request to restore diplomatic relations.
According to a State Department spokesperson, “The United States does not recognize any entity as the government of Afghanistan and therefore has no plans to allow for the reopening of its embassy.”
National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt said, “We have made no commitments regarding the Afghan Embassy in Washington, and there are no discussions underway concerning the status of the U.S. Embassy compound in Kabul.”
The release of Glezmann and Hall was not the Trump administration’s first attempt to strike a deal with the Taliban. Before his inauguration, President Donald Trump requested that the Taliban return $7 billion in U.S. military hardware left behind during the August 2021 U.S. withdrawal, offering to restore funding to the Taliban in exchange for the weaponry.
CBS News received the Taliban’s response when a spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, said the Taliban would not return U.S. materiel, explaining that “currently, the best way to engage is through normal diplomatic means.”
“Afghanistan, after nearly half a century of war, conflict is now at a stage where we finally have peace … for us to make use of our natural resources … Our policy is that we’re open to everyone,” Balkhi elaborated.
While an estimated $1 to $3 trillion in natural reserves of iron ore, lithium, cobalt, copper, gold, nickel, and chromite are believed to reside in Afghanistan, the Trump administration’s decision not to normalize relations with Taliban leaders is the proper one.
The Taliban have utterly failed to live up to the February 2020 Doha Agreement. Chief among the de facto government’s failed promises was its assurance that it “will prevent any group or individual in Afghanistan from threatening the security of the United States and its allies, and will prevent them from recruiting, training, and fundraising and will not host them in accordance with the commitments in this agreement.”
The United Nations Security Council’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team found in February that Afghanistan continues to be a haven for two dozen terrorist groups. In addition to the “sustained presence” of ISIS-K, the team found that “the Taliban maintained a permissive environment allowing al Qaida to consolidate, with the presence of safe houses and training camps scattered across Afghanistan.” The team also noted that Taliban intelligence personnel provide protection for al Qaeda personnel throughout the country and that al Qaeda “sought to strengthen cooperation with regional terrorist organizations of non-Afghan origin that operate in the country.”
Afghanistan Analysts Network’s Thomas Ruttig told Voice of America that the Doha Agreement is “still considered valid.” Accordingly, its violation could lead to “new quasi-sanctions on” Taliban leaders.
Whether the Doha Agreement stands or not, engaging with an entity that is perpetrating gender apartheid against half of its populace would be morally repugnant. Since the Taliban’s takeover, Afghan women have seen their rights stripped away, have been subjected to rape and humiliation, and are no longer allowed to raise their voices in public.
Between 2002 and 2020, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of State spent $787.4 million on projects to support Afghan women and girls, according to a February 2021 report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. At the time, SIGAR added that “because hundreds of other U.S. programs and projects included an unquantified gender component, this amount significantly understates the actual level of U.S. support for women, girls, and gender equality.”
The progress enabled by those outlays has been negated.
AMERICAN WOMAN FAYE HALL FREED AFTER BEING DETAINED IN AFGHANISTAN
Hall shared a request of the new president from her fellow female detainees shortly after her release from Taliban custody. “I’ve never been so proud to be an American citizen,” Hall said in a video shared on X by Zalmay Khalilzad, the former special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation who helped to negotiate the release of Hall and Glezmann.
“Thank you, Mr. President,” Hall said. “And I just want you to know, all the women in the Afghan jail, they always ask me, ‘When [is] Trump coming?’ You, truly they just treat you like their savior. They are waiting for you to come and set them free.”
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance contributor to Fox News and the co-host of The Afghanistan Project, which takes a deep dive into nearly two decades of war and the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.