The Taliban has set unacceptable situations for attending a United Nations-sponsored assembly about Afghanistan within the Qatari capital, Doha, UN Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres says.
“I obtained a letter [from the Taliban] with a set of situations to be current on this assembly that weren’t acceptable,” Guterres stated at a information convention on Monday.
“These situations denied us the fitting to speak to different representatives of Afghan society and demanded a therapy that will, to a big extent, be just like recognition,” the UN chief added.
The 2-day assembly which ended on Monday in Doha introduced collectively member states and worldwide envoys to Afghanistan to debate an array of points going through the nation. However the Taliban didn’t attend as a result of its calls for weren’t met.
The Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021 after United States and NATO forces withdrew following 20 years of battle.
Nonetheless, no nation recognises it as Afghanistan’s authorities, and the UN has stated that recognition is nearly not possible whereas bans on feminine schooling and employment stay in place.
The most important level of rivalry between the worldwide group and the Taliban are the bans imposed on ladies and women.
Because it retook energy, it has ordered ladies to cowl up when leaving house, stopped women and girls from attending highschool and college, and banned them from parks, gyms and public baths.
The Taliban insists the bans are a home matter and reject criticism as exterior interference.
Guterres stated it was important to revoke the restrictions.
In January, Taliban chief spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, stated the UN preoccupation with Afghan ladies was unwarranted and dismissed its considerations.
“Afghan ladies put on hijab of their very own accord,” he stated on X. “They don’t have to be pressured. The Vice and Advantage Ministry hasn’t pressured anybody [to wear hijab] both.”
One other level of rivalry is the appointment of a UN particular envoy within the nation, which the Taliban opposes.
On Monday, Guterres stated there wanted to be “clear consultations” with the Taliban to have clarification of the envoy’s function and who it might be to “make it enticing” from the Taliban’s perspective.
He stated it was within the Taliban’s pursuits to be a part of the consultations.
Many governments, worldwide organisations and assist companies have reduce off or severely scaled again their funding for Afghanistan in response to the Taliban insurance policies, inflicting a severe blow to the nation’s struggling economic system.
“Certainly one of our fundamental goals is to beat this impasse,” Guterres stated, explaining {that a} roadmap wanted to be created by which “the considerations of the worldwide group” and the considerations of the “de facto authorities of Afghanistan” are taken into consideration.
Lotfullah Najafizada, CEO of Amu TV, a world media outlet, instructed Al Jazeera the Taliban made a strategic mistake by not attending the talks.
“I believe it is vitally vital additionally for the Taliban to know the place the world stands. For the time being the world has deliberate to go forward with out the Taliban, which isn’t one thing that they anticipated,” he stated.
“I believe it is vitally vital for the worldwide group to construct consensus and cope with the Taliban with one voice.”
The assembly in Doha additionally aimed toward a extra coordinated response to sort out points in Afghanistan.
Guterres stated there had been dialogue of a “contact group”, with a “restricted variety of states in a position to have a extra coordinated method within the engagement with the de facto authorities”.
He stated this might embody everlasting members of the UN Safety Council, neighbouring international locations and related donors however it will be “as much as member states to determine tips on how to create it”.
“I imagine it will be a strategy to have coherence in the way in which the worldwide group is participating with the de facto authorities of Afghanistan,” he stated.
