Taliban’s “Contact Commission”: Three Years Later

Looking beyond high optics associated with the return (often the deportation) of members of the former Afghan Republic to the country, the Contact Commission set up by the Taliban regime in 2022 comes across as a strategic move to present itself as a conciliatory and legitimate state entity on one hand and undercut the support base of the fragmented exiled political opposition on the other. This is best manifest in the fact that the Taliban has opened a pathway for exiled political opposition and former civil and military personnel to return to the country but without yielding any political space or making any provision to integrate the returnees into its governing structures.

The commission’s efforts are stymied by violations of the ‘general amnesty’ announced for members of the former regime, lack of employment avenues for the educated non-Taliban workforce, and the ban on higher education for girls and work opportunities for women. In such a scenario, the commission cannot bridge the divide between the regime and the exiled or returnee Afghans, unless the regime itself acts as a bridge connecting diverse ethnicities and identities that make up the Afghan Nation.

About the Author

Mr Vishal Chandra studies Afghanistan at Manohar Parrikar IDSA, New Delhi. He joined MP-IDSA in 2003 and is currently a Research Fellow with the South Asia Centre of the Institute. He is the author of the monograph Afghans in Need: Positing India’s Continued Engagement with Afghanistan (MP-IDSA, October 2024) and the book The Unfinished War in Afghanistan: 2001–2014 (IDSA, Pentagon Press, New Delhi, 2015). He has been the editor of India and South Asia: Exploring Regional Perceptions (IDSA, Pentagon Press, 2015) and India’s Neighbourhood: The Armies of South Asia (IDSA, Pentagon Press, 2013). He recently authored an MP-IDSA Special Feature, “The Why and What of Non-Inclusivity and Dissensus in the Taliban ‘Emirate,” published in November 2024.

Reviews of his book on Afghanistan have been published in The Journal of Slavic Military Studies (formerly The Journal of Soviet Military Studies), Indian Foreign Affairs Journal, India Today, The Book Review, and The Pioneer.

The author has travelled in Afghanistan and has participated in various national and international academic forums. He has delivered talks & lectures at India’s leading training academies and institutes. At MP-IDSA, he also had a decade-long editorial stint with the Institute’s website, including as the Editor Website from 2019 to 2022.