Foreign relations of Afghanistan
However, given that unlike the Soviet Union, the United States refused to give extensive military aid to the country, the government of Daoud Khan developed warmer ties with the USSR while officially remaining non-aligned.
Following the coup of April 1978, the government under Nur Muhammad Taraki developed significantly closer ties with the Soviet Union and its communist satellites.
With the signing of the Geneva Accords, President Najibullah unsuccessfully sought to end the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan's isolation within the Islamic world and in the Non-Aligned Movement.
It continued to maintain close ties with North America, the European Union, South Korea, Japan, Australia, India, Pakistan, China, Russia and the Greater Middle East (most specifically Turkey), as well as African nations.
After the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, India strengthened ties with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan by establishing consulates in most major Afghan cities.
During Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's May 2011 visit to Kabul, it was announced that India's total aid to Afghanistan reached $2 billion after a package of $500 million was added.
[124] There was also military ties between Afghanistan and India, which is expected to increase after the October 2011 strategic pact that was signed by President Karzai and Manmohan Singh.
[128] Both countries established diplomatic relations on 2 May 1920 when has been accredited first Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Afghanistan to Persia Sardar Abdol Aziz Khan.
[12] Afghanistan's relations with Iran have fluctuated over the last decades, with periodic disputes over the water rights of the Helmand River as one of the main issues of contention.
Iran supported the cause of the Afghan resistance and provided limited assistance to the ethnic Hazara rebel leaders who pledged loyalty to the Iranian Revolution.
The United States was more fearing that Soviet reach to the Persian Gulf would threaten or suspend Arab oil supply so it began Operation Cyclone to provide billions of dollars to Pakistan for the training of Mujahideen against the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
[160] Pakistan developed closer ties with the Taliban government in 1996, which it believed would offer strategic depth in any future conflict with India, and extended recognition in 1997.
Following Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001, when the Taliban government was toppled, Pakistan recognized the new Karzai administration and offered around $250 million in aid for reconstruction of the war-torn country.
This is mainly due to the recent Afghanistan–Pakistan border skirmishes, escalating Taliban insurgency which is alleged to be supported and guided by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy network,[162] and the growing influence of its rival India in Afghanistan.
Saudi Arabia was also the second of only three countries to recognize the Taliban government, extending official recognition on 26 May 1997, one day after Pakistan and shortly before the United Arab Emirates.
Uzbekistan continued this policy for a long time, but in 2016 started boosting relations with Afghanistan in terms of trade, socio-cultural and educational exchanges.
The Minister of National Defence Art Eggleton advised Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to authorize more than 100 Canadian Forces members serving on military exchange programs in the United States and other countries to participate in U.S. operations in Afghanistan.
General Ray Henault, the Chief of the Defence Staff, issued preliminary orders to several Canadian Forces units, as Operation Apollo was established.
[25] Official diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and the United States began in the 1920s, although contact between the two nations was made in the late 1830s with the visit of Josiah Harlan.
Since the 1950s the U.S. extended an economic assistance program focused on the development of Afghanistan's physical infrastructure which included roads, dams, and power plants.
Later, U.S. aid shifted from infrastructure projects to technical assistance programs to help develop the skills needed to build a modern economy.
[200] A US State Department report criticized the handling of the 2021 Afghanistan evacuation, highlighting the serious consequences of troop withdrawals by Presidents Biden and Trump on the security of the former US-backed government.
The report raised concerns over the lack of coordination and failure to expand crisis-management efforts during the Taliban's advance on Kabul, without directly naming Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
[224] On 28 January 2006, the Afghan president Hamid Karzai visited Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Marienborg, the summer residence of the Danish Prime Minister.
In 1935 under prime minister Muhammad Hashim, Afghanistan established a close relationship with Germany, a distinct change of relations in comparison to its usual position between the Russian and British spheres of influence.
Under this relationship, Afghanistan received German foreign aid and technical assistance, and also developed closer ties with Germany's allies, Italy, Spain and Japan.
[235] Afghanistan maintained these ties throughout much of World War II, though it came under strong pressure from Moscow and London to expel the German and Italian diplomatic corps.
On 13 September 1991, the Soviet government, now dominated by Boris Yeltsin, agreed with the United States on a mutual cut off of military aid to both sides in the Afghan civil war beginning on 1 January 1992.
In the aftermath of the Accords and subsequent Soviet withdrawal, the United Nations has assisted in the repatriation of refugees and has provided humanitarian aid such as health care, educational programs, and food and has supported mine-clearing operations.
Throughout the late 1990s, 2000, and 2001, the UN unsuccessfully strived to promote a peaceful settlement among the Afghan factions as well as provide humanitarian aid, this despite increasing Taliban restrictions upon UN personnel and agencies.
