RASC News Agency: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, has reiterated Islamabad’s call for the establishment of an inclusive political system in Afghanistan that reflects the country’s ethnic, cultural, and political diversity. Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Tianjin, China, Dar emphasized that a genuinely representative government in Kabul remains an urgent regional priority. Dar stressed that a sustainable peace in Afghanistan is unattainable without national consensus and inclusive governance. “The creation of a government that includes all ethnic groups and political factions is essential not just for Afghanistan’s future but for the stability of the entire region,” he said. He further noted that SCO member states are united in their support for an Afghanistan that is peaceful, independent, neutral, and free from terrorism and illicit drug trafficking.
While discussions at the summit included proposals to enhance regional security in light of Afghanistan’s fragile state, Dar pointed out a troubling reality: despite outreach by regional powers, the Taliban remain adamantly resistant to any form of inclusive political reform. Since retaking power in August 2021, the Taliban have systematically entrenched their rule, excluding virtually all non-Taliban actors from positions of authority. The regime continues to propagate the misleading claim that its government is representative of the entire population, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Analysts and citizens alike point to a stark truth: the Taliban have reduced Afghanistan’s governance to a one-faction monopoly, dominated by hardline clerics and Pashtun loyalists, while marginalizing ethnic minorities such as Hazaras, Tajiks, Uzbeks, and others. Political opposition is silenced, civil society is under siege, and dissent is criminalized.
Reports from within the country confirm that thousands of civil servants and professionals who served under the previous republic have been purged from public offices. Administrative posts have largely been handed over to Taliban fighters and ideologues many of whom lack the technical skills required for governance but are rewarded for their loyalty to the Emirate. The consequences of this exclusionary rule have been severe: the collapse of public services, economic paralysis, worsening ethnic tensions, and a governance vacuum in many rural areas. Despite international assistance and diplomatic engagement, the Taliban’s de facto government remains firmly authoritarian, dismissive of dialogue, and indifferent to international calls for reform.
Dar’s remarks, although diplomatically phrased, reflect a growing frustration among regional stakeholders with the Taliban’s unwillingness to compromise or evolve. Meanwhile, the people of Afghanistan continue to pay the price for a regime that governs by exclusion, fear, and dogma rather than consent, competence, and constitutional legitimacy.
