Taliban project moderate face. Biden thinks it's an ‘existential crisis’....

 Taliban project moderate face. Biden thinks it's an ‘existential crisis’....

Amid the Taliban’s attempt to project themselves as moderates, US President Joe Biden said he doesn’t think the Islamist fundamentalists have changed at all and appeared more committed to its beliefs. In an interview with ABC aired on Thursday, Biden raised apprehensions about the Taliban wanting to be recognised as a legitimate government by the international community.

"I think they're going through a sort of existential crisis about: Do they want to be recognized by the international community as being a legitimate government? I'm not sure they do," said Biden, who has been facing flak for rushing the troops out of Afghanistan.

The US president was asked whether he thought the Taliban had changed since his administration followed through the withdrawal process. "No," he replied.Kabul fell to the Taliban weeks after the insurgents intensified offensive against Afghanistan's national security forces as US-led foreign troops finalised their withdrawal.

The ouster of Afghanistan’s democratically elected government has also triggered all forms of crisis - social, political, economic, and humanitarian. Biden said the Taliban have to grapple with the needs of Afghans, suggesting that the group won’t be able to fulfil its promises.

"They also care about whether they have food to eat, whether they have an income that ... can run an economy, they care about whether or not they can hold together the society that they in fact say they care so much about," Biden told ABC. "I'm not counting on any of that."

Meanwhile, analysts fear that the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan risks emboldening jihadists worldwide. They argue that the ouster of Ashraf Ghani’s government in a lightning push despite years of war involving US-led foreign troops could serve as an example to jihadists on how “patience and careful strategy can pay off even after the defeat of IS in Syria and Iraq,” reported news agency AFP.

"The Taliban's victory will give jihadist groups worldwide a major boost. It makes them believe that they can expel foreign powers, even major military powers like the United States," AFP quoted Colin Clarke, director of research at the New York-based Soufan Centre think tank, as saying.