This Research Workshop will take post-2021 Afghanistan as a case study in international actors’ response to regimes which defy global norms.  Based on ongoing research into the Afghan Taliban Movement and conflict transformation efforts, Professor Semple will review the range of policy options considered and pursued by Afghanistan’s neighbours and global powers and assess the extent to which this has any impact on Taliban governance.

The talk will be structured around the legacy of the 2020 Doha Accord and the evolution of the UN Security Council response to the Taliban takeover, which has included maintaining a sanctions regime and deploying a Special Coordinator to try to restart political dialogue.

Professor Semple will explain how the Taliban have been able to pursue their project of constructing an authoritarian state and disregarding norms, despite the efforts at use of aid, sanctions and engagement to promote a more inclusive Afghanistan.

Professor Michael Semple is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice and the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen’s University Belfast.

He works on innovative approaches to peace-making and engagement with militant Islamic movements in Afghanistan and South Asia.

His interests include the political culture of the Afghan Taliban and kindred militant Islamic, the role and potential of dialogue and social media in conflict transformation and the challenge of pluralism in the post 9/11 Muslim world.

Michael hosts a regular podcast series: Taliban, Turbans and the Smartphone.