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FT reported (paywalled) that Pakistan has, at least at the government level:

As the Taliban swept into Kabul on Sunday after a dramatic military offensive, the leaders of neighboring Pakistan did not hide their schadenfreude at the ignominious end to the 20-year US mission in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Imran Khan declared that Afghans had “broken the shackles of slavery”. Raoof Hasan, his special assistant, wrote on Twitter that “the contraption that the US had pieced together for Afghanistan has crumbled like the proverbial house of cards”. As Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, Hasan hailed what he called “a virtually smooth shifting of power” from Ghani’s “corrupt” government to Taliban rule.

Have any other countries expressed similar support, either by the government or in their mainstream/national mass media (which sometimes serves as quasi-mouthpiece in more authoritarian countries)?

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  • N.B. related question on the pre-2001 international recognition they had: politics.stackexchange.com/questions/68160/…
    – Fizz
    Aug 17, 2021 at 3:47
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    A leftwing political party in the Netherlands (Groen Links/Green Left) had several members stating that because of how easy the Taliban won that they have the support of the people and are therefor the rightful leaders...
    – A.bakker
    Aug 17, 2021 at 7:17
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    @A.bakker I'm not sure if that is an accurate description of the events. This article (among others, in Dutch) only mentions a statement that this is the claim made in a tweet by a single member of a local (municipality level) fraction of the party. Additionally, the leader of the local fraction has distanced themselves from the statement, and the member making the tweet has apologized for making it. Aug 17, 2021 at 14:59

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TL;DR: We could probably conclude that all countries that oppose the US and/or India are quite welcoming of the Taliban i.e Pakistan, Russia, and China. Some of the Gulf countries have said they support stability in the region and have claimed they support the desire of the people of Afghanistan, so they might throw their weight around after it's a bit clear on how the Taliban is acting.


The Taliban are attempting to find allies as per this source:

But in recent weeks, top Taliban leaders have been on a whirlwind international tour, visiting Iran, Russia, and China.

China is planning on recognizing the Taliban as per this source:

China is prepared to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan if the terrorist group manages to overpower the democratically elected government in Kabul, US News has learned.

For which, one of the main reasons might be because China has been interested in the natural resources of Afghanistan evidenced by its previous interaction with President Ashraf Ghani's government :

China has reportedly promised big investments in energy and infrastructure projects, including the building of a road network in Afghanistan, and is also eyeing the country's vast, untapped, rare-earth mineral deposits.

Russia seems to be playing a game of wait-and-watch although it's to be noted that they have been trying to establish ties with the Taliban for a significant period of time as per this source:

Kabulov said on Monday that Moscow's long campaign to build ties with the Taliban appeared now to be paying off. "It's not for nothing that we've been establishing contacts with the Taliban movement for the last seven years. We saw that this force would in the end if not completely come to power would play a leading role in the future of Afghanistan in any case," Kabulov told Ekho Moskvy.

Kabulov said Russia would decide on recognising the new Taliban government based "on the conduct of the new authorities" and that his country "established working contacts with representatives of the new authorities".

Iran has welcomed the defeat of the US and has claimed it wants peace amongst all the groups in Afghanistan. Iran has claimed it supports any efforts to bring stability to the region but hasn't been clear on whether it believes the Taliban to be such a force as per this source:

"America's military defeat and its withdrawal must become an opportunity to restore life, security and durable peace in Afghanistan," Iran's state TV quoted Raisi as saying.

"Iran backs efforts to restore stability in Afghanistan and, as a neighbouring and brother nation, Iran invites all groups in Afghanistan to reach a national agreement."

Saudi Arabia has voiced out its support for stability and has advocated that it supports any choice that the people of Afghanistan desire as per this source:

A statement issued by the Saudi foreign ministry on Twitter added that the kingdom "stands with the choices that the Afghan people make without any interference," expressing hope that the situation in the central Asian state stabilises as soon as possible.

Qatar is supporting a peaceful transition of power but isn't very clear on its support of the Taliban as per this source:

Fellow Gulf state Qatar said it was seeking a peaceful transition in Afghanistan and was doing its utmost to help efforts to evacuate diplomats and foreign staff in international organizations from the country.

Bahrain has said that it will decide on what to do after consulting with the rest of the GCC as per this source:

"The council of ministers has tasked the foreign minister to coordinate and consult with the GCC states regarding the developments in Afghanistan, in the framework of Bahraini presidency" of the group which also includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, it said on Twitter.

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    Nice summary; there's a bit more on China and the Taliban in Canadian newspaper afr.com/world/asia/… Apparently some joint projects with Pakistan might be envisaged like a motorway between Pakistan and Afghanistan that China is seemingly intent on building. Some Pakistani media covered that as well thenews.com.pk/print/…
    – Fizz
    Aug 17, 2021 at 4:50
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    Do any sources point to China's amiability being related to not having offensive manoeuvres relating to the Urghur being based in or originating from Afghanistan? A local paper (AU) has posited this.
    – mcalex
    Aug 17, 2021 at 13:50
  • @mcalex I didn't notice anything like that in most of the articles I have read previously. In most of the sources, there hasn't been a lot mentioned about it. Upon checking now it seems there is a lot of stuff regarding the Uyghur Issue and China-Taliban relation regarding the Taliban, but I haven't yet reached a sufficient level of understanding about that to answer your question. Aug 17, 2021 at 17:50
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    Russia has to worry about export of the Taliban ideology (and the associated terror) into the stans (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan) and Russia itself. Aug 18, 2021 at 13:15
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    I don't believe "Welcoming the Taliban" is an accurate way to interpret those statements from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain.
    – T.E.D.
    Aug 18, 2021 at 18:07

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