Description
Following the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan in 2021, the Russian leadership has pursued a cautious policy of engaging with the Taliban while at the same time attempting to position Russia as a key mediator between the Taliban and the US. This paper will develop a novel argument about the sources of Russia’s foreign policy towards Afghanistan and the US. We will build on the rapidly developing literature on autobiographical narratives and ontological security to develop a concept of a status charter – a set of strategic historical narratives that work together to imagine the state’s ‘rightful’ status and a normative map to achieving this status. It will then apply the concept of the status charter to the analysis of Russia’s approaches to Afghanistan by tracing the changing strategic narratives of Russia’s past victories and defeats (as articulated by the Russian President), and by examining the impact of these narratives on how the Russian authorities interpret Russia’s ‘rightful’ international role in the region.
