The choice of words Taliban employs to communicate with the international community is symptomatic not only of the limits of inter-cultural communication, but also depicts how meanings move across geo-cultural spaces and that “right” vocabularies are being used indeed as a qualifier to join the community of nations.

The early reactions from Turkey and Iran underline their readiness to work with the Taliban to safeguard their interests and expand their regional influence. Both are also willing to work with other regional actors to mitigate traditional and non-traditional security threats emanating from Afghanistan.

Maintaining security and stability in Central Asia seems to be a key pillar of Russia’s Afghan calculus. By positioning itself as an interlocutor of the Taliban, Russia aims to project itself as an indispensable pole in resolving global and regional issues.

The unfolding horror in Afghanistan appears foreboding for India, as for the rest of the world, considering that a war-ravaged Afghanistan can well become a global terrorism hub under the Taliban.

Trump seems to have reconciled himself to the fact that Afghanistan may become an ‘Islamic Emirate of Taliban’ with Sharia Law being imposed with or without the consent of the people.