The Taliban 2.0 Regime and Challenges to the State-Making in Contemporary Afghanistan
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Abstract
Political instability still continues in Afghanistan and the Taliban movement, which had a failed experience in state-building between 1996 to 2001, is in power once again. The current regime after four years since seizing the power has gained neither domestic legitimacy nor international recognition. They have yet to succeed in bringing about a convergence between the society and the state, and thus their regime. This study examines the challenges to the state-making in Afghanistan under the current Taliban regime. It argues that the Taliban’s top-down approach to state-making aims at preservation of their regime, predominated by Pashtuns, and the monopolization and implementation, often by force, of sharia and while there is no issue in general in the ruling of a country by a group of elected people from any ethnic group, the ethnic factor has been so prominent in politics in Afghanistan, where no ethnic community is in majority. The contemporary state-making challenges in Afghanistan are influenced by historical events in the past few decades, too. One should not forget the international aspect of state-making in Afghanistan. The relationship between the society and the Taliban, the regime’s policy in providing security, the political and armed opposition groups, policies of regional and international powers are discussed in this paper to prove the argument. The paper suggests that the Taliban should consider the public opinion while making and implementing policies to eliminate the gap between the regime and society and get domestic legitimacy and international recognition. For this purpose, efforts are needed at both national and international levels.
How to Cite
Kohy, A. M., & Tewari, A. K. (2025). The Taliban 2.0 Regime and Challenges to the State-Making in Contemporary Afghanistan. The World of the Orient, (3 (128), 152-164. https://doi.org/10.15407/orientw2025.03.152
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Keywords
Afghanistan; Islam; Pashtuns; sharia; state-making; Taliban
References
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Ahady A.-H. (1995), “The Decline of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan”, Asian Survey, Vol. 35, Issue 7, pp. 621–634. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2645419
Aljazeera (2016), “Afghanistan Peace Talks Held in Pakistan”, 11 January, available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/1/11/afghanistan-peace-talks-held-in-pakistan (accessed September 18, 2025).
Ashley J. (2018), Life under the Taliban Shadow Government. Research Report, in ODI Global, June, pp. 1–31.
Bizhan N. (2018), “State-Building in Afghanistan: Aids, Politics, and State Capacity”, Asian Survey, Vol. 58, Issue 6, pp. 973–994. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2018.58.6.973
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Ginn P. (2025), “Trigger Warning: Afghanistan’s Unchecked Arsenal under Taliban Rule”, in Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, February 6, available at: https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/afghanistans-unchecked-arsenal-under-taliban-rule/ (accessed August 20, 2025).
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Ibrahimi N. (2023), “A Violent Nexus: Ethnonationalism, Religious Fundamentalism, and the Taliban”, The Review of Faith & International Affairs, Vol. 21, Issue 3: Ethnic Nationalism and Politicized Religion in the Pakistan-Afghanistan Borderland, pp. 22–37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2023.2235809
Jackson A. and Weigand F. (2019), “The Taliban’s War for Legitimacy in Afghanistan”, Current History, Vol. 118, Issue 807, pp. 143–148. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.2019.118.807.143
Khan I. and Ahmed Z. S. (2025), “Borderland Struggles: The Consequences of the Afghan Taliban’s Takeover on Pakistan”, The Round Table, Vol. 114, Issue 1, pp. 34–51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2025.2466193
Kiani V., Hajipour M. and Rahimi N. (2024), “Taliban Government Formation in Afghanistan; Transnational Geopolitical Challenges and Their Solutions”, Geopolitics Quarterly, Vol. 20, Issue 3, pp. 98–133. DOI: 10.22034/IGQ.2024.410578.1792
Kossaify E. (2023), “Islamic World Officials Denounce Taliban Actions, Media Stereotypes of Muslim Women”, Arab News, March 9, available at: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2265201/world (accessed August 21, 2025).
Kumar R. (2024), “Taliban’s Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani Killed: Why It Matters”, Al Jazeera, December 16, available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/16/talibans-khalil-ur-rahman-haqqani-killed-why-it-matters (accessed August 20, 2025).
Mir A. (2023), “Two Years Under the Taliban: Is Afghanistan a Terrorist Safe Haven Once Again?”, in United States Institute of Peace, August 15, available at: https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/08/two-years-under-taliban-afghanistan-terrorist-safe-haven-once-again (accessed August 20, 2025).
Monten J. (2014), “Intervention and State-Building: Comparative Lessons from Japan, Iraq, and Afghanistan”, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 656, Issue 1, pp. 173–191. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716214546989
Mossalanejad A. (2021), “Iran’s Policy Toward Terrorist Groups and Regional Crises”, Geopolitics Quarterly, Vol. 16, Issue 4, pp. 310–333.
Mossalanejad A. (2022), “Geopolitical Power Balancing in Biden’s Strategic Policy Making”, Geopolitics Quarterly, Vol. 18, Issue 4, pp. 26–46.
Quarterly Report to the United States Congress (2024), Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, April 30, available at: //www.sigar.mil/Portals/147/Files/Reports/Quarterly-Reports/2024-04-30qr.pdf (accessed Au-gust 20, 2025).
Rahimi H. (2022), “Remaking of Afghanistan: How the Taliban are Changing Afghanistan’s Laws and Legal Institu-tions”, in The Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), July 26, available at: https://www.isas.nus.edu.sg/papers/remaking-of-afghanistan-how-the-taliban-are-changing-afghanistans-laws-and-legal-institutions/#(accessed August 20, 2025).
Rubin B. R. (1996), “Afghanistan: The Forgotten Crisis”, Refugee Survey, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 1–35.
Rubin B. R. (1999), “Afghanistan under the Taliban”, Current History, Vol. 98, No. 625, pp. 79–91.
Sayed A. (2021), “Analysis: How are the Taliban Organized?”, Voice of America, September 05, https://www.voanews.com/a/us-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal_analysis-how-are-taliban-organized/6219266.html (ac-cessed September 18, 2025).
Shariati S. and Vazirian A. H. (2024), “Counterterrorism in Middle Eastern Foreign Policy of Iran (1971–2021)”, Geopolitics Quarterly, Vol. 19, Issue 4, pp. 246–267. DOI: 10.22034/igq.2023.160291
Sørensen G. (2001), “War and State-Making: Why Doesn’t It Work in the Third World?”, Security Dialogue, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 341–354. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010601032003006
“Taliban’s Leader Rejects Group’s Prominent Uzbek Commander’s Resignation” (2024), Afghanistan International, Oct 16, available a https://www.afintl.com/en/202410163876 (accessed August 20, 2025).
“Thirtieth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team submitted pursuant to resolution 2610 (2021) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities (S/2022/547), United Nations Security Council” (2022), in ecoi.net, available at: https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2075689/N2239429.pdf (accessed August 21, 2025).
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Ylönen A. (2022), “On State-Making, Fear Governance, and Terrorism”, Peace Review, Vol. 34, Issue 1, pp. 91–98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2022.2023434
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