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Newly recruited Taliban fighters parade in armored vehicles after their graduation ceremony in Herat, Afghanistan, on September 13, 2022. (Moshen Karimi/AFP via Getty Images)
Since the Taliban’s return to power, one credible and non-extremist group has been willing to take up arms in opposition: the National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan. The Biden administration has an opportunity to engage with this group, which the White House should find acceptable if it is willing to work with the Taliban. In a new policy memo for Hudson Institute, Senior Fellow Luke Coffey gives nine policy recommendations for how the United States could support the NRF. Below are some highlights.
Key Insights
1. Establish Contact with the NRF Political Wing
The US government needs to establish formal contacts with members of the NRF based in Tajikistan to learn more about the group, its goals, and its needs. To do this, CENTCOM could assign a liaison officer to the NRF based out of the US embassy in Dushanbe. If the Biden administration is comfortable engaging with the Taliban, there is no reason it cannot do the same with the NRF.
2. Supply the NRF with Winter Weather Gear
Providing the NRF with winter weather gear would be a humanitarian act. Surviving the winter months is imperative for the NRF to ramp up its resistance measures against the Taliban in the spring. Providing this gear would also be a non-controversial way to help the group survive the harsh winter in northern Afghanistan. It would also help build trust and confidence between the NRF and the US government, which could lead to future cooperation.
3. Consider Ways that the NRF Can Help Advance America’s Counterterrorism Goals in Afghanistan
Even though the NRF is the only credible force inside Afghanistan to fight international terrorism, neither the US nor its partners have done anything to build a relationship with this group. While “over the horizon” strike capabilities remain extremely limited for the US in Afghanistan, the US should explore how the NRF could help with counterterrorism operations on the ground inside Afghanistan in the future.
4. Allocate a Percentage of the Central Bank of Afghanistan’s Frozen Assets to Support the NRF
The US currently holds about $7 billion in frozen assets from Afghanistan’s central bank. US policymakers should explore legal ways to divert some of these frozen assets to the NRF’s political office.
Quotes may be edited for clarity and length.
Go Deeper
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A Year Later, the Afghanistan Withdrawal Causes Enduring Pain One year after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, many still question whether the United States made a mistake in withdrawing its forces. In the Washington Examiner, Senior Fellow Amb. Husain Haqqani reviews the consequences of the American and allied withdrawal and considers what the US could have done differently. |
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How Taliban Instability is a Risk to Central Asia Senior Fellow Luke Coffey explains in Arab News why the Taliban is—unsurprisingly—a bad next-door neighbor, and why Afghan instability threatens more than just Pakistan. |
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Counterbalance | Ep. 26: Was Afghanistan A Failure of Intelligence? Adjunct Fellow Ezra Cohen, who has served in the White House and the Defense Department, joined Michael Doran and Marshall Kosloff to discuss the role of intelligence in the miscalculations that marred the Afghanistan withdrawal, as well as the impact of the withdrawal on America’s intelligence capabilities. |
