What the Taliban Has Achieved Five Years After US Troop Withdrawal

Five years after the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban says it has succeeded in consolidating security, strengthening infrastructure development and suppressing the narcotics trade. However, the group still faces various international criticisms that hinder its efforts to gain recognition as a legitimate government.

In a report from Kabul, Al Jazeera correspondent Nasser Shadeed said the Taliban-led Afghan government is seeking to strengthen its domestic legitimacy through various infrastructure development projects, ranging from road expansion and bridge construction to railway projects. The government is also investing in the construction of 600 dams to protect farmers and expand irrigation networks, even though international sanctions remain in place and contribute to Afghanistan’s financial and political isolation.

In addition, the Taliban government is attempting to open diplomatic communication channels with a number of regional and Arab countries, and even with some Western countries, in order to gain recognition as a legitimate government.

The Taliban claims it continues to comply with the Doha Agreement signed with the United States, although according to Shahabuddin Dilawar, a member of the Doha negotiating team, the American side has committed around 3,500 violations of the agreement. According to Dilawar, the Taliban has fulfilled a number of key obligations under the Doha Agreement, including helping more than 40 countries leave Afghanistan peacefully and not allowing Afghan territory to be used to attack other parties.

Political analyst Obaidullah Bahir assesses that the past five years have been marked by both missed opportunities and a number of achievements. He regards the economic and security progress achieved by the Taliban as something of a miracle, given that the group took over the government under extremely poor security conditions.