RASC News Agency: The analytical website Al-Monitor has reported that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has outpaced many key players in establishing closer relations with the Taliban. According to this report, the UAE, driven by security concerns and competition with Iran and Qatar, has nearly reached the point of officially recognizing the Taliban. Last week, the UAE formally accepted Badruddin Haqqani as the Taliban’s ambassador. After Beijing, Abu Dhabi is the second country to officially accept a Taliban ambassador.
Over the past three years, the UAE has hosted numerous senior Taliban officials. Last week, Mullah Hassan Akhund, the Taliban’s Prime Minister, made his first international visit to Abu Dhabi. Although the Taliban claimed that the visit was for medical treatment, the meeting between Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the UAE, and Mullah Hassan at the hospital underscored the significance of this visit and the deepening relations between the two sides.
Theodore Karasik, a Russian and Middle Eastern affairs expert at the Jamestown Foundation, told Al-Monitor that this meeting highlights Abu Dhabi’s priority in influencing and strengthening relations with Afghanistan. He added, “This illustrates the UAE’s capability to collaborate with the Taliban on various projects.” The visit sent a clear message to Kabul’s neighbors about the depth of the UAE’s connections with senior Taliban leaders. In June, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s Interior Minister, and Abdul Haq Wasiq, the Taliban’s intelligence chief, visited the UAE, where they were welcomed by the Emirati leadership in Abu Dhabi.
This was Haqqani’s first trip outside Afghanistan since the Taliban’s ascent to power. Previously, the first high-level meeting between Sheikh Mohammed and Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban’s Defense Minister, took place in late 2022. According to Karasik, these meetings have ushered in a new phase of bilateral cooperation between the UAE and Afghanistan. He noted that financial ties between the two countries are particularly strong, with Dubai playing a pivotal role in trade with Afghanistan.
Iftikhar Firdous, editor of Khorasan Diary, highlighted the importance of the Haqqani family to the UAE, stating, “The Afghanistani Taliban have two channels for international engagement: the Kandahar faction is aligned with Qatar, while the Haqqani faction is closer to the UAE. The Haqqani family’s historical ties have contributed to the potential recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.” Firdous added that the UAE has simultaneously hosted Ashraf Ghani, the former president of Afghanistan, and Taliban officials who are under international sanctions, maintaining a delicate balance. It is also noteworthy that Sirajuddin Haqqani’s mother is Arab and resides in the UAE, and Haqqani’s uncle has spent the past two decades raising funds from Arab investors and the public to empower the network to carry out bombings in cities.
