islamic emirate

The purpose of this research is to present the structural-interpretative model of the Taliban in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The research method is quantitative-qualitative. In the qualitative part, in order to identify influential factors, the content analysis method, literature review, and exploratory interviews with 28 experts in the fields of political science, geopolitics, international relations, and regional studies were used. The non-random method with the snowball technique was used to select experts until reaching theoretical saturation. The statistical population in the quantitative part was 85 experts, researchers, and researchers who were estimated by simple random sampling. The Delphi method was used to screen and select the factors, and among the 17 identified factors, 15 elements were selected. Using exploratory factor analysis, the factors were determined in the form of the three main factors of the moderate Islamic state, the effort for ethnic unity in Afghanistan, and the strengthened social and popular base. Also, for leveling, the structural modeling-interpretive method has been used, which is placed in the first level - the moderate Islamic state, the second level is the effort for ethnic unity in Afghanistan, and the third level is the strengthening of the social and popular base. According to the graph of the power of influence and degree of dependence, all three factors were placed in the autonomous region, which has low power of influence and degree of dependence and will have little influence and permeability.

Recent developments in Afghanistan led to the fall of Ghani's government and re-formation of Taliban; It doubled the attention of analysts to the Afghanistan issue. Following the developments aimed at changing the structure in the country and the gradual formation of the emerging political system, the process of transformation of Afghanistan's surrounding environment has intensified and multiple impacts at all levels and domains has created Therefore, the main question is what are the major challenges of Afghanistan and the geopolitical analysis of this country's relations with its neighbors and conflict countries? The hypothesis that can be proposed is that the process of state building in Afghanistan and the re-formation of Taliban with the inefficiency of the legitimacy crisis and the fragility of the government on one hand and the internal capacities of the Taliban on the other hand at the national level, the performance of neighbors such as Pakistan, India and Iran at the regional level and Afghanistan's geopolitical challenges with its neighbors; The change in the strategy of the US and NATO, Russia and China at the international level have played a decisive role in the re-establishment of the Taliban's power in Afghanistan. The findings show that if Afghanistan is still part of the US and NATO geopolitical puzzle, then the Afghanistan region will become the focus of new conflicts in the border region of Central,, South and West Asia and China, which will pose direct threats to Iran and then will create problems for Russia and China afterwards.

With their resurgence in Afghanistan, the Taliban has adopted the term "Islamic Emirate" instead of "Islamic State." After capturing Kabul, the Taliban formally introduced their interim government and requested the United Nations to recognize their representation. The Taliban regime, which can be described as an "Ethnic-Religious Leviathan," does not adhere to the conventional norms of legitimacy in international law. Instead, it bases its principles on "Hanafi jurisprudence," "Pashtunwali customs," and the "Loya Jirga tradition," none of which align with international standards of legitimacy. These principles, characterized by ethnic nationalism, patriarchy, and the fusion of political and religious despotism, are incompatible with the modern state's elements, such as authority, legitimacy, sovereignty, territory, centralized power, and a constitution.The concept of Leviathan, introduced in Thomas Hobbes' political philosophy, is a significant theory concerning sovereignty and political systems. It is based on a social contract where individuals surrender their decision-making rights to a centralized government. According to Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, the balance of power between the state and society is crucial in determining the type of Leviathan. This balance may result in different forms of Leviathan: a despotic Leviathan where the state is strong, and society is weak; an absent Leviathan where both the state and government institutions are weak; a constrained Leviathan where the state and society are balanced and interact; and a paper Leviathan where both the state and society are weak. In each type of Leviathan, norms play a crucial role in shaping government behavior and actions. In comparison to Leviathan, the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate can be seen as a blend of a despotic Leviathan and a paper Leviathan. In this structure, the Taliban government is strong and authoritarian, but its inability to resolve conflicts, enforce laws, and provide public services leads to a weakened society. This situation restricts individual and social freedoms and places society under the heavy control of the government, with no opportunity for effective political participation. Additionally, exploitative economic institutions in this type of government eliminate incentives for progress and innovation, leading to social instability and weakness. Considering these factors, the Taliban Leviathan can be seen as a combination of both despotic and paper Leviathan types. The paper Leviathan lacks the ability to resolve conflicts, enforce laws, and provide public services, rendering both the state and society weak. At the same time, it constantly fears mobilization from society, which could threaten the stability of its control. In this type of Leviathan, freedom is ultimately thwarted.According to Quentin Skinner’s perspective, understanding the Taliban’s ideology and actions requires reconstructing both their practical and ideological contexts, aiming to clarify what the Taliban intends to achieve. A hermeneutic analysis of the Taliban's actions and the political environment in their Islamic Emirate necessitates examining their ideological foundations, customary norms, their political actions, the development or transformation of their ideology, and finally, the relationship between ideology and political action. The ideological crisis in Afghanistan stems from the lack of indigenous forces for national and political independence. As a country with ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity, Afghanistan has long faced identity problems. The state's, system's, and nation’s identity in Afghanistan have always been ambiguous and unstable. This identity crisis has been exacerbated by the dominance of tribal culture, which conflicts with modernity and inter-ethnic culture. In this context, the Taliban, as a group with a specific ideology, has been influenced by Hanafi jurisprudence, Pashtunwali customs, and the Loya Jirga tradition. Talibanism emerged as a reaction to the inefficiency of the Jihadist government and ethnic fragmentation, attempting to strengthen its legitimacy among the Afghan people by ensuring security.The Taliban's political actions are based on Hanafi jurisprudence, Pashtunwali customs, and the Loya Jirga tradition. After the 2001 US invasion and the subsequent fall of their government, the Taliban resorted to guerrilla warfare. Through reorganization and alliances with groups like al-Qaeda, they managed to regain control over various regions and gradually became a significant political power in Afghanistan. However, the Taliban's political actions have consistently been characterized by totalitarianism and exclusivity, which has deepened ethnic and racial divisions in Afghanistan. In forming their ideology, the Taliban collaborated with fundamentalist and reactionary groups, adopting norms from Hanafi culture as their political ideology. Over time, this ideology has evolved under the influence of global and regional developments, particularly after the deaths of the Taliban’s original leaders and the emergence of new ones. The group has attempted to adapt its ideology to new global and local challenges. Global events like the September 11 attacks and the US wars in Afghanistan also played a role in these ideological shifts.As an Islamic movement, the Taliban has intertwined its ideology with political actions. By adhering to Islamic principles and Sharia law, the group seeks to reshape Afghanistan's social and political structures in line with its ideology. The connection between the Taliban's ideology and political action has enabled them to dominate the Afghan people and implement their policies using ideological power. The Taliban's conservative ideology, emphasizing the enforcement of Islamic limits and a particular interpretation of Sharia, serves as the foundation of their governance and helps them reconstruct Afghanistan's social and political systems according to their ideological vision. This analysis shows that the Taliban has not only used its ideology but also its political and military actions to establish a prominent position in AfghanThe comparison between the Leviathan theory and the Islamic Emirate of the Taliban reveals that each of these concepts possesses unique characteristics in areas such as sovereignty, state formation, and political systems. This analysis not only enhances the understanding of philosophical and political concepts but also sheds light on the challenges and opportunities emerging in different contexts. With the collapse of the Afghan government and the ensuing panic among the people, there are growing concerns that with the rise of the Taliban, Afghanistan might revert to a pre-modern era, where women would be confined to their homes, girls would be denied education, men would be forced to comply with Sharia law, and the Taliban-controlled media would lack freedom. Moreover, the public fears that any Afghan citizen who collaborated with the previous government or the United States might face severe punishment if discovered by the Taliban. In essence, it can be said that the state-building process appears to be moving in reverse, leading to a breakdown of order. However, the Taliban has denied all these claims in conferences, asserting that they have no intention of reinstating previous policies and that their objective is to assist the people and promote the progress and development of Afghanistan. This is a question that cannot be answered definitively at this time; it remains to be seen what the outcomes of the Taliban's Islamic governance in Afghanistan will be. Nevertheless, given the internal and regional circumstances, the future of the Taliban government remains uncertain. Domestically, the issue of governing a fragmented society persists, and the Taliban's Leviathan, in addition to maintaining stability, faces multiple and diverse demands from Afghanistan's youthful and sectarian society. Consequently, the Taliban will inevitably need to adopt a more inclusive approach, which will require developing a coherent theory of governance and appropriate mechanisms. However, it must be acknowledged that the process of forming a strong and stable state is still in its early stages, as the Taliban's Islamic Emirate is highly dependent on developmental assistance and de jure recognition on the global stage to carry out the typical functions of a sustainable government.

Afghanistan has an important position for the countries of the region, including China, in terms of having rich natural resources and having an important transit position as a link between regions such as Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. With the Taliban once again dominating Afghanistan, China's relations with this group have entered a new stage, and Afghanistan is still the focus of China's foreign policy. In this regard, this research aims to examine the trends governing China's political economy and its impact on the country's foreign policy towards the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Therefore, this research tries to use the qualitative method and sample research method to address the basic question of how China's political economy has directed the country's foreign policy towards the Taliban. In response to this hypothesis, China's political economy, with its neo-mercantilist approach and centralized capitalism, has directed the foreign policy of this country to serve the economic interests and access to Afghanistan's natural resources in interaction with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The findings of the research show that the upward trend of China's industrial growth requires natural resources for the consumption of domestic industries. In addition, natural reserves are considered essential for the continuation of China's economic growth. Therefore, the necessity of controlling foreign natural resources and transit situations has been inevitable for China's economic development. In the meantime, Afghanistan, with its natural reserves and convenient transit location, can play a strategic role in China's economic interests.

Adherence to ethnicity, religion and the intellectual-political discourse of Talibanism is one of the distinctive features of the second Taliban government. Regardless of how the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, after three years of their rule in Afghanistan, the Taliban leaders not only do not believe in intra-Afghan negotiations, but also insist on the inclusiveness of their rule. By emphasizing their inalienable right to rule in Afghanistan due to four decades of fighting against the invaders (from the time of the former Soviet invasion until the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in early September 1400), the Taliban authorities are not ready to be given a share of power in proportion to the status of other ethnic groups in Afghanistan One of the most important arguments of the Taliban for the nonparticipation of other ethnic groups, especially the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras, has been the association of these ethnic groups and their leaders with the previous governments (republican system) and not fighting against America. Considering this approach of the Taliban authorities to stabilize their monopoly, while they want to weaken other political currents such as the former Northern United Front in Afghanistan, they seek to expand and strengthen the Talibanist thinking, change the demographic composition and ethnic context, etc. With the order of "Molahabtullah Akhundzadeh", the leader of the Taliban, religious schools have been established all over Afghanistan, and a network of young and emerging Taliban scholars, both Pashtun and non-Pashtun, has been created. In the upcoming article, the behavior of the Taliban government in relation to the non-Pashtun ethnic groups of Afghanistan has been analyzed and investigated.

After the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the issue of Afghanistan has always been one of the most important issues of Iran's foreign policy due to various reasons such as geopolitical features, cultural-civilizational commonalities and the presence of a large number of Afghan immigrants in Iran. The recent developments in Afghanistan that led to the fall of Ashraf Ghani's government and the re-formation of the Islamic Emirate; It doubled the attention of all experts and analysts to the issue of Afghanistan. "Islamic Emirate" is the name that the Taliban government uses to introduce itself. The first period of Taliban rule in Afghanistan was between 1996 and 2001. In 2021, the second period of Taliban rule in Afghanistan has begun. Therefore, the Taliban regaining power in Afghanistan has led to the presentation of different views in the political and security fields. Some thinkers see the reappearance of the Taliban as a threat, while others see it as an opportunity for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Investigating the fundamental developments of Afghanistan and getting to know the ideological characteristics of the Taliban can be an opportunity for the Islamic Republic of Iran to make the most of the emergence of an Islamic ideological movement in its neighborhood. The main question of the article is what are the major challenges that the Taliban government is facing and how will these challenges affect the relations between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and Iran?

The recent developments in Afghanistan that led to the fall of Ashraf Ghani's government and the re-formation of the Islamic Emirate, doubled the attention of analysts to the issue of Afghanistan. The first period of Taliban rule in Afghanistan was between 1996 -2001. In 2021, the second period of Taliban rule in Afghanistan begun. Therefore, the regaining of power of Taliban in Afghanistan has led to the presentation of different views. Some believe that with Taliban taking power, this country will see peace at the cost of losing democracy; But others believe that the establishment of Taliban did not establish stability in Afghanistan and that the unification of power is not a guarantee for the end of unrest in this country. The basic question is, what major challenges does Taliban face? The findings of the research indicate that the Taliban is facing many obstacles to consolidate the foundations of its government and also to establish stability and security in Afghanistan. Some of these obstacles, such as ethnic differences, rural population and extremism, have historical and cultural roots and were a source of trouble for the previous government, but some of them are directly related to the current government and its functioning. The hypothesis that can be proposed is that the weakness in the management and governance of neo-Talibanism, ethnic and racial divisions and the violence caused by these divisions, identity crisis, fanatical sectarianism, and the problem of obtaining internal and external legitimacy have been among the important challenges in Afghanistan.

Government was in Afghanistan in two periods the Islamic Emirate. The first government from1996 to 2001 and the second, from 2021 . This government, made the relations between the two countries by adopting a hostile approach and killing Iranian diplomats and journalists. The Iranian government took advantage of the diplomatic tool to resolve the crisis a pragmatic approach and taking into account the objective and field realities of the Afghan political arena. In 2021, with the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan, the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan. The Taliban's second government is conservative and pragmatic in nature. The question that the author seeks to answer in this article is: What approach has Iran taken to foreign policy from 1996 to 2021? The hypothesis of this article, which is codified by analytical-explanatory methodology and using online articles and Iranian foreign policy documents is: Iran tried to organize a foreign policy based on political rationalism, diplomacy and mediation between different Afghan groups, maintaining and increasing influence creating security and forming a coalition government with a pragmatic approach based on realities in the field and politics. The findings of this study indicate that Iran's effective foreign policy in Afghanistan depends on formulating a pragmatic foreign policy with features such as avoiding useless confrontation, prioritizing objective interests over subjective interests, and tactical flexibility in the foreign policy process.