Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - International Relations

International Relations

Only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates recognized the Taliban government. The state was not recognised in the UN. Turkmenistan, however, was known to have held official meetings and agreements with Taliban government ministers.

One reason for lack of international recognition was the Taliban's disregard for international law as demonstrated by their actions on taking power. For example, one of the first acts of the Islamic Emirate was the murder of the former President of Afghanistan, Mohammad Najibullah. Before the Taliban had even taken control of Afghanistan's capital they sent out a squad to arrest, torture, mutilate and murder Najibullah, leaving his body hanging from a street lamp outside the presidential palace for two days. As Najibullah was staying in the United Nations compound in Kabul, this was a violation of international law. As a further example, the Taliban regime was also heavily criticised for the murder of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan in 1998. The Taliban supported the Islamic militants operating in Chechnya, Kashmir and Xinjiang, thus antagonizing Russia, India and the People's Republic of China simultaneously.