At the much-anticipated annual "Herat Security Dialogue" event in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, former Afghan intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil made a startling statement revealing that the Taliban are actively plotting to acquire tactical nuclear weapons to further consolidate their presence in Afghanistan. Nabil noted that the Taliban are considering acquiring these deadly ** from Pakistan and may even outsource engineers to implement the plan.
The declaration has attracted widespread attention from the international community, as the Taliban's nuclear ambitions not only pose a potential threat to Afghanistan's stability, but also raise doubts about regional and global security. Nabil's remarks underscore the question: Are the Taliban's ambitions limited to restrictions on women's rights?He called on the international community to be more vigilant and not to take their strategic objectives lightly.
However, international security expert Dr. Arian Sherriffi has questioned this. He believes that even if the Taliban had the practical means to acquire nuclear weapons, such a move would bring huge political baggage and negatively affect their fight for legitimacy. Moreover, given Afghanistan's current economic woes, the Taliban not only lack sufficient economic capacity, but also lack the technical level to purchase, deliver and maintain nuclear weapons.
At the same time, the economic construction of the Taliban has attracted some attention. They have shown enthusiasm in counter-narcotics, building roads, opening oil wells, and even selling some US military equipment in an attempt to improve the economic situation in Afghanistan. A recent UN report noted that opium production in Afghanistan had plummeted by 95 percent, with opium cultivation increasing from 23 percent last year30,000 hectares down to 1 this year080,000 hectares, farmers are switching to wheat and other crops.
In terms of infrastructure development, the Taliban have worked with China to build many roads and open up corridors between the mountains by using Afghanistan's lithium and copper mines as collateral and obtaining loans from the AIIB. Local Afghan companies have also been involved in the construction of sections of the road, such as Highway 209, which connects Kandahar province to Uruzgan, which was built and accepted by the Taliban themselves. At the same time, eight oil wells in the Amu oil field in Afghanistan's Sarpur province were put into operation, and the Taliban economic chief announced that oil revenues would be used to build large hospitals, roads, dams and provide jobs for thousands of people.
These economic moves have heightened the suspicion among experts that the Taliban really need to acquire nuclear weapons. Within the Taliban, while a small group of factions are discussing the possibility of a nuclear **, mainstream attention remains focused on control of Afghanistan and internal threats, such as ISIS offshoots and small resistance forces.
In a series of actions, the Taliban even expressed their desire to become the Wakhan Corridor connecting Iran and China, as well as Chabahar connecting Afghanistan's Kandahar Railway and Iran, building Afghanistan into a transit point for Iran, China, Uzbekistan and other countries, giving full play to its geographical advantages and becoming an important transportation hub between Asia and the Middle East.
Overall, the Taliban's economic moves show that they are working to develop the country's economy, in stark contrast to Nabil's nuclear claims. Considering that the "Herat Security Dialogue" is led by the U.S.-backed Afghan ex-**, they are trying to rally international support and build a united front against the Taliban. Therefore, Nabil's statement may need to be evaluated more carefully, after all, he was the former intelligence chief.
Against the backdrop of the rapidly changing political situation in Afghanistan, we are concerned about the direction of the Taliban's development. Whether it is their economic construction or potential nuclear procurement, it will have a profound impact on Afghanistan's future stability and development. The international community needs to remain vigilant and sensitive to the situation in Afghanistan to ensure that the Taliban's actions do not pose a potential threat to regional and global security.