Nicaragua Becomes the Second Country to Open Diplomatic Relations With the Taliban

On June 21, Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo announced that the Nicaraguan government had established diplomatic relations with the People of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, more commonly known as the Taliban. Michael Campbell, Nicaragua’s ambassador to China, will take on the diplomatic duties as a nonresident ambassador from his office in Beijing.

China became the first country to establish diplomatic ties with the Taliban in 2023. As of this writing, China and Nicaragua are the only countries that have diplomatic relations with the Taliban. Neither country, however, has formally recognized the Taliban government.  

Motives

Nicaragua faces international isolation largely because of the Sandinista regime’s violations of human rights and liberties. The regime has begun allying with other dictatorships to alleviate the isolation.

In addition to establishing relations with the Taliban, the Nicaraguan ambassador to North Korea, Manuel Modesto Munguía Martínez, became one of only five diplomats allowed to enter the country after the pandemic.

The Sandinista government has also aligned itself with countries like China, Russia, Iran, and Belarus in their attempt to lessen isolation.

U.S. Concerns

Nicaragua has discovered that migrant transportation is a very lucrative business.

Murillo opened Augusto C. Sandino International Airport to migrant charter flights in 2021. These flights bring in thousands of migrants from dozens of countries with oppressive or terroristic regimes such as Haiti, Cuba, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

The migrants take charter flights into Nicaragua to bypass the dangerous Darién Gap, turning the country into a “first stop” for many migrants on their way to the United States.

Nicaragua has extorted millions of dollars in arbitrary fees from migrants. The monetary incentives have prompted the government to continue promoting immigration, including through illegal methods such as smuggling. Nicaragua also sells visas that require buyers to leave the country within 96 hours, many of who make their way north to the US border.

Fears that migrants coming from Afghanistan may be granted visa-free status, like Cubans and Haitians, have also arisen. Allowing migrants to enter Nicaragua without a visa may make it easier for terrorists to enter the United States from the southern border. In the first two weeks of June alone, eight suspects from Tajikistan were arrested in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles with alleged connections to ISIS.

Nicaragua’s diplomatic relations with U.S. adversaries and encouragement of migrants from these countries to use Nicaragua as a throughway will continue to exacerbate the migrant issue in the United States and likely make it easier for terrorists to enter the United States.

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