United States of America

Profile
The United States is a central actor in the Afghan conflict. Even after the withdrawal and the Taliban takeover, the US continues to wield considerable influence over Afghanistan. However, since the withdrawal, the character of this influence has shifted significantly. While, before, the military might represented the U.S.’ main source of leverage, the U.S. now relies primarily on economic sources of leverage to push its interests in Afghanistan. These interests include the guarantee of human rights, limiting international terrorism, preventing humanitarian crisis, and achieving those aims through the establishment of an inclusive and representative government. Ultimately, as a leader of Western countries and institutions, the U.S. will in large part decide how the world engages with the Taliban in the future. U.S. tolerance for Taliban rule on one hand and for economic failure and humanitarian crisis on the other will determine whether they continue to present a hardline of economic isolation for the new Afghanistan.
Key Interests & Priorities
1. Humanitarian Assistance
The United States has a strong interest in preventing the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which has left millions starving and the Afghan economy without basic functionality. This interest is motivated by fundamental humanitarian principles as well as pragmatic considerations of the destabilizing effects of economic collapse, including violence, migration, and an increase in illicit commercial activities. However, this interest has a complicated relationship with other core American interests. Because relieving the humanitarian crisis might involve relinquishing several of the United States’ biggest sources of leverage (economic sanctions, aid, reserves), it may damage efforts to advocate for other interests, including human rights and inclusive government.
2. International Terrorism
Like many regional and global actors, the United States is exceptionally concerned about a resurgence of international terrorist activity operating out of the Taliban’s Afghanistan. The Taliban’s potential amiability to some terrorist organizations and their lack of capacity to suppress other organizations heightens these fears. After all, the United States’ initial motivation for invading Afghanistan was to attack the international terrorists (Al Qaeda) finding refuge there. Although international terrorist activities have increased since the Taliban takeover, they are not seen as a threat to U.S., its allies, and regional interests. Washington has been able to maintain its over the horizon counter-terrorism capabilities as evidenced by the July 2022 drone attack that killed the leader of al Qaeda Ayman al Zawahiri in Kabul.
3. Human Rights
One of the largest American worries about the new Taliban government is the rapid, thorough deterioration of human rights in Afghanistan. The history of Taliban rule in the 1990s demonstrates a significant lack of basic freedoms and rights. While some analysts predicted a somewhat changed Taliban government this time around, the new government has restricted Afghan freedoms across the board, including serious reductions in the freedom of expression, intimidation of civilians, and violent revenge killings and kidnappings of individuals who are perceived to have worked against the Taliban. Women’s rights represent perhaps the most pressing human rights issue area for the United States. Over the two decades of the war in Afghanistan, the United States worked to promote gender equality and women’s rights throughout the country. With the Taliban takeover, many in the United States worried that this progress would be lost. As the Taliban continues to deny women secondary school education and has severely curtailed women's presence in public life, these fears are being realized.
4. Inclusive Government
Since the Taliban takeover, the US has repeatedly called for an inclusive government in Afghanistan, the spirit of which was laid out in the US-Taliban Doha agreement commitment for intra-Afghan negotiations as a pathway to peaceful political settlement. The US believes durable peace can only be achieved through an inclusive, just, and realistic political settlement. In its bilateral and multilateral engagement with IEA representatives, the US has been urging the “establishment of a credible process to form an inclusive government that fully reflects Afghanistan’s rich diversity, including meaningful representation of women and minority communities.” The three major criteria for their recognition are: (1) Establishment of an inclusive and representative government, including political opposition. (2) Protection of human rights, including women and minorities. (3) Adherence to the principle that Afghan territory is not used for terrorism against others.