Afghan Taliban Regime Seeks BRICS Membership

On September 24, 2024, Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, i.e., the Afghan Taliban) said that the ruling Taliban want to expand their relations with BRICS.

BRICS is associated with wealthy countries such as Russia, China, and India who are key members of the forum and with whom the Taliban have good economic relations, he said, adding: "We are keen to further expand our relations with them and attend the BRICS economic forum."[1]

The BRICS countries. (Map courtesy: Geo-ref.net)

Initially formed as BRIC in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, as the founding members, the forum became BRICS, an, after South Africa joined it in 2010. On January 1, 2024, new members joined BRICS, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.[2]

Launched as an economic counter-weight to the West, the BRICS bloc has grown in importance having established its own BRICS Bank – as alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The forum is working to introduce its own currency to replace the U.S. dollar in international trade. Speaking at the XV Russia – Islamic World: KazanForum 2024, which was held May 14-19, 2024, Kazem Jalali, Iran's ambassador to Moscow, said Iran is "conducting large-scale work in BRICS" and "the creation of a new single currency within the framework of the association is what Russia and Iran are working on."[3]

As BRICS has grown in economic and geostrategic importance, many more countries are expressing their willingness to join the forum, with the latest being Azerbaijan, Turkey, Malaysia, Thailand, and Chile.[4] "One of the primary drivers behind the growing interest in BRICS is the perceived unfairness and irrationality of the existing international order. Many developing countries have long felt marginalized and underrepresented in global institutions, where the rules are often dictated by a few powerful nations," one journalist wrote recently.[5]

The Taliban-ruled Afghanistan is not the only country seeking to join BRICS. If Turkey joins, it will be the first NATO member to enter BRICS, while North Korea also has expressed willingness to join the forum. A media report noted in September 2024 that Pyongyang seems to be "stepping up efforts" to join the bloc with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui skipping the UN General Assembly in favor of attending a BRICS-related event in St. Petersburg, Russia.[6]

On September 25, a day after his deputy's statement about Afghanistan seeking to join BRICS, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that Afghanistan wants to participate in the BRICS summit to discuss the country's economic issues with other nations.[7]

While the Taliban regime is indeed working to develop he Afghan economy, its reason for diplomatic and economic engagement with the world has been the engagement itself, because the jihadi group, facing global isolation due to its banishment of girls and women from schools and colleges and the public sphere generally, sees all opportunities for bilateral and multilateral contacts as a source of legitimacy.