Kazakhstan’s multidimensional engagement with Taliban-led Afghanistan (2021–2026)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24020109 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Abdul Wasi Popalzay (0009-0005-3697-6034, Central University of Punjab, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Asian and African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9096 • E-ISSN: 1745-2538 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00219096261471789 |
| OpenAlex | W7172497440 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 8 |
The Taliban’s 2021 takeover posed a strategic dilemma for Central Asian states engaging an internationally isolated regime. This study analyzes Kazakhstan’s shift from defensive isolationism to functional integration with Taliban-led Afghanistan (2021–2026). Using process tracing, trade analysis, and legal-institutional examination, it develops a “Compartmentalized Pragmatism” framework. Findings show a four-domain engagement architecture, diplomatic, economic, security, and humanitarian, enabled by institutional separation, including terrorist delisting, trade-based structural power, and tacit security cooperation. The ecological dimension, particularly transboundary water insecurity driven by the Qosh Tepa Canal, is identified as a cross-cutting constraint that simultaneously threatens all four domains and represents the primary long-term test of this model’s sustainability. Two further impediments require attention: the Taliban-led government’s limited institutional capacity for complex bilateral arrangements, and the absence of demonstrated political will on the Taliban side to moderate water-competing infrastructure. These gaps expose the fragility of pragmatic engagement with pariah regimes in a multipolar order and require further research before definitive conclusions on bilateral sustainability can be drawn.
Dilemma · Fragility · Isolationism · Multilateralism · Operationalization · Pariah group · Politics · Process (computing) · Terrorism · Belt and Road Initiative · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Transboundary Water Resource Management
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |