How constitutionally constrained civilian powers sustain strategic agency while engaging non-recognized pariah regimes remains an unresolved theoretical problem in International Relations. Existing literature inadequately integrates civilian-power theory, hedging frameworks, and pariah-regime engagement into a unified model, leaving Japan’s post-2021 Afghanistan policy undertheorized. This study examines Japan’s principled pragmatism toward the Afghan Taliban between 2021–2025, through qualitative process-tracing and thematic discourse analysis of institutional sources. Findings demonstrate that Japan pursued hedging through normative conditionality, humanitarian engagement, and geostrategic positioning without recognizing the Taliban regime. Japan’s civilian-power identity enabled access and legitimacy but constrained coercive leverage for behavioral change. This reveals a paradox.
