The Politics of Recognition. The Case of the UN in dealing with the Recognition of the Taliban as the Legitimate Government of Afghanistan

Master's Thesis from the year 2025 in the subject Politics - International Politics and Country Analyses, grade: 1,0, University of Hamburg (Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften), language: English, abstract: The Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 marked a turning point in international politics and human rights debates. Following the withdrawal of international forces and the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Taliban re-established an authoritarian theocracy that systematically curtailed women’s and girls’ rights. Since then, the United Nations (UN) has faced a profound dilemma: while it does not formally recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government, it continues to cooperate with them in practice to deliver humanitarian aid and maintain basic governance functions. This duality reveals a deep tension between legal non-recognition and pragmatic engagement—especially in light of the UN’s feminist commitments embedded in CEDAW (1979) and the Women, Peace and Security agenda (UNSCR 1325). The UN’s interactions with the Taliban challenge the coherence of these normative frameworks and raise critical questions about how far feminist principles can be upheld in contexts of repression. My thesis asks: What does the UN’s engagement with the Taliban reveal about the practical limits and tensions of its normative commitments to women’s rights in the context of an emerging process of recognition? Recognition here is not viewed as a binary or strictly legal act, but as a performative and discursive process shaped through diplomatic language, routines, and institutional practices. Drawing on Gëzim Visoka’s critical recognition theory and practice-oriented approaches from Frost, Lechner, and Brandom, the analysis explores how recognition takes shape through meaning-making processes. Four sensitizing concepts—recognition, representation, de facto authorities, and engagement (following Antje Wiener)—guide the interpretive framework. Empirically, the study analyzes two key UN statements: Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks on Afghanistan (May 2023) and a press conference by Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo (July 2024). Through these texts, the thesis identifies verbal and non-verbal practices that illustrate how the UN navigates the boundary between normative fidelity and operational necessity.