White Taliban: Inverted Orientalism; Useful Idiots & Great Game

The Taliban's ascendency to power was made possible by their ability to establish a wide-ranging coalition, who shared Taliban's ideological, political, ethnic and strategic objectives one way or the other. While the Taliban's allies and enablers among their traditional circles (local, ethnic, religious, regional) are well-known, the role of Western apologists/advocates/lobbyists is not widely recognised or understood.

These western advocates played an important role in promoting policy of making peace with the Taliban as early as 2006 till the Taliban's takeover of the country in August 2021. Despite the disastrous outcome of the Doha peace agreement for people of Afghanistan, particularly Afghan women, regional security and western credibility, many of these advocates have continued their relentless efforts in pushing for further engagement with the Taliban. Their advocacy is aligned with the UN, US State Department and the UK government, as well as Norway, Pakistan and Qatar's policy agendas and priorities for Afghanistan. In this webinar, distinguished speakers will discuss if there can be a group identified as "White Taliban"? If so, what could be their motivation, objectives, influence and modus operandi? What are the relationship between academic/research community with the policy community in western capitals? How does "lobbying" or advocacy for a given policy preference operate ? How the Taliban engage with western interlocutors, including those who are sympathetic to their cause ? To what extent public advocacy for "peace with the Taliban" and later "engage with the Taliban" has impacted policies towards them?

While there are avenues for holding politicians accountable for their policy choices, how can intellectuals/researchers be held responsible for their preference/advocacy for a given policy choice, particularly those with significant human costs?

The webinar will take place on September 20 ( tentatively) 2023, at 16:00-17:30 UK time.

Stay tuned for more information and registration.