G20 summit on Afghanistan: Why the meeting of leading countries was organized in a hurry

Nikita Yurchenko

An online G20 summit dedicated to the problems of Afghanistan took place in Italy. The event was held in an expanded format: in addition to the permanent participants, delegates from the UN, the Inter-national Monetary Fund and the World Bank took part in the event. Russia was represented by Dep-uty Foreign Minister Ig-or Morgulov and the Pr-esident’s Special Represe-ntative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov. Neither Vladimir Putin nor Sergei Lavrov were able to att-end the summit due to the inconsistency of the sche-dule, as announced earlier.

• Among the topics at the center of the meeting: urgent humanitarian aid to the Afghan population, the fight against terrorism, freedom of movement within the country and open borders, – said the department of the Prime Minister of the Italian Republic.
  According to political analyst Alexei Martynov, one of the reasons for such a hasty holding of the summit was precisely that the event did not contain impo-rtant arguments and that the presidents of all countries did not have time to participate.
• The US, after the sham-eful flight from Afghani-stan, when it did not even agree on its withdrawal wi-th its closest allies, was afr-aid of reproaches from its partners. This style resembles the deviant behavior of the “most important” co-untry in the world, which alar-ms many. In fact, the problem of Afghanistan lies in the fact that the Ame-ricans ruled there for 20 years, and then, when they left, those with whom they actually fought returned to their place. And now the whole world is forced to conduct a dialogue with this force, ”Martynov said.
  The extraordinary G20 summit was tied to the US-Taliban talks in the Qatari capital Doha, which took place the day before. The task was “to resolve the primary issues related to the departure of foreigners from Afghanistan, the supply of food and medicine.” It was officially emphasized that there was no talk of recognizing the current government of Afghanistan. Nikita Mendkovich, an expert at the Center for the Study of Modern Afghanistan, believes that recognition of the Taliban is only a matter of time. And the swiftly organized meeting made it possible to exclude the participation of a number of the world’s top politicians.
• The United States lost the war, they recognized this, as did the current government of Afghanistan, since they are holding rounds of negotiations between Washington and Kabul, that is, official meetings with the Taliban are already underway. And if this is so, then other NATO countries will be forced, following the Americans, to agree that there is now a different government in Kabul, and then recognize it, ”Mendkovich said.
  One of the decisions that was taken at the end of the summit was to allocate about 1 billion euros for solving humanitarian problems. As the chairman of the European Commission Ursula von der Leynen noted on her Twitter account, 300 million of the estimated funds will be spent on humanitarian aid and vaccinations, at least 250 million euros – for emergency medical care.
• Europe is taking the lead in global solidarity efforts. The nearly € 1 billion Afghanistan support package is an investment in security and stability. I hope that the summit participants will supplement it with contributions, – she wrote on her Twitter.
  This amount should be enough for urgent humanitarian expenses to survive the fall and winter, Nikita Mendkovich believes. He noted that the UN also w-ants to provide similar support. Perhaps the initiative of the EU is dictated by the desire to intercept the agenda, to get political points for Brussels, in any case, here it will be necessary to look at a more detailed distribution of funds.
  One of the most important wishes of the G20 summit participants was the prevention of terrorism and the escalation of violence in the country. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke about this.
  “The international community cannot turn its back on Afghanistan, leaving its people to their fate. We propose to form a working group on Afghanistan under the auspices of the G20, we are ready to head it, – Erdogan noted.
  For the United States, the problem of the abandoned country has become one of the internal political issues – it is important for the Biden administration to compensate for the failure with Afghanistan and to show that it was all intended, says Vladimir Vasiliev, chief researcher at the Institute of the United States and Canada.
• They would like to see in Kabul the work of international programs, through which they would retain a small part of their presence, if not by military, then by economic means. Otherwise, Afghanistan may naturally lean against China, which they greatly dislike. So they invent a crutch in the form of the work of world organizations. And given that a good half of the G20 countries are military allies of the United States, who also do not really like the strengthening of China, this becomes relevant for the Americans, said Vasiliev.
  The question of whether international efforts will create a tangible effect for Afghanistan is an open question. The US and West-ern countries are more inte-rested in women’s and hu-man rights, minority rights, while China discusses only financial issues, not paying attention to domestic politics, which may be a more preferable option when ch-oosing partners for the Taliban.
• I think the Taliban are well aware of what choice they have and what exactly they are interested in. The factor of the Islamic world is also important, therefore many countries, including Turkey, will try to use Afg-hanistan as a platform for r-egional projects on a relig-ious basis, added Vladimir Vasiliev.
  Alexey Martynov noted that the most difficult thing for Americans is to admit their mistakes and honestly discuss them with all interested parties. Almost all G-20 countries are interested in Afghanistan to one deg-ree or another or play on th-is chessboard. The contradictions that exist between the different political poles of the world do not allow the nuclear powers to solve the problems of Afghani-stan, as they say, “right off the bat.” And the America-ns are trying to implement the same strategy – as they fled the country overnight, they organize similar summits. Therefore, no quality decisions that will seriously change the situation will follow.