Reframing the Taliban, Discourse shift in Central Asian States after 2021

Abstract

After the withdrawal of the American troops from Afghanistan in 2021 and further the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani regime the new geopolitical reality emerged for the Central Asian states. Taliban militants captured Kabul and announced the reestablishment of the “Islamic Emirate.” Central Asian states, which for more than 20 years were considering Afghanistan as the main challenge to the regional security system, are once again faced with the new risks, including extremist militant groups, drug trafficking and terrorism. However, despite the existing issues, the discourse of the Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan) towards Taliban regime undergone significant changes. Consequently, this research aims to examine the discourse towards Taliban in Central Asian states after 2021 using a qualitative methodological framework. The theoretical framework of this research, which employed to provide a systemic conceptual vision of the ongoing processes is the theory of neorealism.