The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has reported: “Afghanistan’s economy has ‘basically collapsed.’46 Warnings have been raised about the severe consequences of prolonged militarization, warfare, and US military intervention in Afghanistan. The cumulative effect of decades of violence –both physical and economic – has significantly deepened social and economic inequalities. The return of the Taliban, the disintegration of the Afghan government, and the collapse of the economy are seen as the inevitable outcome of these long-standing issues, rather than isolated events.47 AN ANALYSIS OF NEOLIBERAL ECONOMIC AND MILITARY INTERVENTIONS REVEALS THAT OVER 16 COUNTRIES CONTINUED TO SEND WEAPONS TO AFGHANISTAN FOR NEARLY TWO DECADES, AND 74 PERCENT OF THESE ARMS WERE SUPPLIED BY THE US. An analysis of neoliberal economic and military interventions reveals that over 16 countries continued to send weapons to Afghanistan for nearly two decades, and 74 percent of these arms were supplied by the US. This has led to “corruption, political instability and widening of social and economic gaps,”48 and that “instead of prosperity, the neoliberal approach led to nurturing a protracted conflict within Afghan society, feeding off food insecurity, poverty, civilian casualties and harms, ultimately enabling the Taliban to take over control of the country.”49 In Southeast Asia, there is a trend of authoritarianism supplanting democratic processes, undermining the region’s political stability and the rule of law.50 In Cambodia, the 2023 elections saw the banning of the opposition, with Prime Minister Hun Sen consolidating power after years of gradually eliminating democratic competition. The major opposition parties have been systematically dissolved, with leaders either under house arrest or 46 United Nations. (2024). Afghanistan’s economy has ‘basically collapsed, United Nations Development Programme. https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147387#:~:text=Since%20the%20takeover%20by%20the,population%20has%20 access%20to%20electricity 47 Yari, N. & Porobic, N. (2024). Reasoning with the Patriarchy: the Political, Economic, and Social Fallout From Talking with the Taliban. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. https://www.wilpf.org/reasoning-with-the-patriarchy-the-political-economic-and-social-fallout-from-talking-with-the-taliban/ 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid. 50 Kurlantzick, J. (2023). The State of Democracy in Southeast Asia Is Bad and Getting Worse. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/article/state-democracy-southeast-asia-bad-and-getting-worse 23