The West is being played by the Taliban

There have been some curious juxtapositions in Afghanistan this week. On the one hand, the under-19 Afghan cricket team was allowed to leave for a planned tournament in Bangladesh, as if things were normal, while on the other there was a sinister military parade taking place in Kandahar this week. After the lines of horsemen in flowing white robes, a deliberate image of Islamic warrior superiority, came the fleets of captured Humvees. And at the side of the procession lay a car packed with a bomb, suicide vest, and large plastic bottles of explosives from a roadside bomb.

This is a government-in-waiting promoting terrorist weapons that indiscriminately kill civilians. And yet the media, and indeed western politicians, seem to be treating the Taliban’s pronouncements as if the group can be held to account. Statements by Taliban spokesmen to protect women’s rights, or not to kill former soldiers or officials from the Ghani administration are highlighted on news channels, as if behind the statements there is a functioning civil service acting on the words of a minister.