From the recognition of the Taliban government to the sinking of the UN

In the race among world powers to secure a better position in Central Asia through agreements with the Taliban, Russia was the first to arrive. It officially recognized the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, breaking the ranks of countries that still uphold the defense of human rights and democratic principles as prerequisites for recognition. Moreover, the UN itself gradually abandoned this position in the name of realism: faced with the Taliban’s resistance to its demands and sanctions, it quickly sought a formula that would allow it to normalize the Taliban government without losing face.

Thus, in continuity with the 2020 Doha Accords, which had abandoned Afghanistan in the hands of fundamentalists in the name of security against terrorism, the UN continued with the policy established with Resolution 2721 of 2023, implementing it with the Doha 2 and 3 Accords of 2023-2024, which recognized the Taliban’s right to participate in international conferences as the sole representatives of Afghanistan, while excluding women, their rights, and the rights of all people.

This strategy of rapprochement and dialogue became more stringent in 2025 with the assignment of the Mosaic Plan negotiations to UNAMA, which allowed diplomatic talks with the Taliban to be moved to a “technical” level. On June 31, 1-7, as part of and in completion of Doha 3, two secret working groups were convened to discuss the demands the Taliban had immediately put on the table as a condition for participation: no intrusion into internal politics dictated by Sharia, therefore no rights recognized for anyone; removal of the condemnation of the Taliban and their government, therefore legal recognition; financial support, therefore the return of the funds frozen in the Swiss bank by the US. All in exchange for nothing.

Two Parallel Strategies

But while these negotiations were being conducted in the name of the UN, did all member states agree with this strategy?

No, not all. Meanwhile, Asian states and powers seeking to keep the US out of regional influence have implemented their own diplomacy, based on trade agreements and economic and infrastructural aid, explicitly ignoring Afghanistan’s political and democratic problems. Indeed, even as major Western countries were discussing the Mosaic Plan, these other countries were busy holding regional economic and political meetings, officially inviting Afghanistan. In other words, they have implemented a parallel diplomacy, de facto recognizing the Taliban government while awaiting legal recognition.

Russia, by being the first to officially recognize the Emirate, has significantly and unexpectedly accelerated this process, despite having been foreshadowed by various political and diplomatic actions.

But will this move, which bypassed all other countries, actually have practical implications, marking a turning point in the economic and political privileges that Afghanistan will reserve for Russia at this stage, leading to significant progress in their relations?

Probably not, for two reasons:

1) First, relations between the two countries were already excellent, with Russia, as mentioned, having long since taken steps to include the Taliban government as the legitimate and sole representative of Afghanistan at all international summits in the Asian region, thus de facto recognizing it;

2) because the Taliban seem interested in maintaining open relations with as many countries as possible—as they themselves have stated—without tying themselves to any one in particular. Therefore, they will use this legal recognition more to put pressure on other countries, especially Western ones, than to make special concessions to Russia.

Against the UN as a multilateral institution

Russia knows this. So, what prompted it to take this hasty step?

Rather than a declaration of friendship toward the Taliban’s Afghanistan, Putin’s statement appears to be a provocation against the US and the West, demonstrating that he has no scruples, just as Trump has none, in waging a war to assert his dominance in Central Asia. It is also a declaration of willingness toward the countries large and small in the region to unhesitatingly lead the UN rebellion, expressed by those Asian countries opposed to US dominance in the UN and its presence in Asia.

But above all, it is a declaration of war against the UN as an institution, a boycott of its authority, a sabotage of its ability to manage conflicts in the defense of human rights, because it has rendered its compliant and delaying strategy toward Afghanistan obsolete and useless.

The UN has not forcefully and consistently pursued the Taliban’s apartheid gender-based and anti-democratic policy because from the very beginning, since the 2020 Doha Accords, it has supported and approved the US decision to accept and maintain the Taliban in government. Although fundamentalists and dictators, the Taliban are seen as the only viable option for government in Afghanistan, a lesser evil compared to terrorist alternatives. But it has attempted to disguise this real objective with a gradual approach to accepting their demands, formally maintaining the principles of restoring women’s freedom and forming an inclusive government.

In this strategy, which purports to be democratic and multilateral, the UN actually seeks to keep all states under the direction of the US and the West, or at least is perceived as such.

Russia, by recognizing the Taliban government in defiance of and outside of the agreements the UN is pursuing, has rendered the international mediation tactic ridiculous. He sank the UN not so much because of the gravity and dangers of the act itself—because recognition is the ultimate goal of the UN itself—but because he did it unilaterally.

In this, Putin is on par with Trump and the United States.

In fact, the United States was among the very few states that did not vote for the UN General Assembly’s final declaration on Afghanistan, aimed at safeguarding the principles on which human coexistence is based.

What do these two seemingly distant and dissimilar decisions have in common? Contempt for international institutions of conciliation and guarantee, and for the UN as a supranational body for governing and resolving conflicts between states.

The goal of the US and Russia is no longer to battle it out within the UN for hegemony so they can direct and manipulate it in their favor: they want to empty this institution of meaning and power, because they now aim to compete directly for hegemony and division of the world, without intermediaries or impediments.