Taliban seeks to address UNGA; sends formal letter to UN with new Ambassador name

The Taliban on Tuesday nominated its Doha, Qatar office spokesperson Suhail Shaheen as an ambassador to represent Afghanistan at the United Nations, UN officials told foreign correspondents at UNGA on Tuesday. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the hardline fundamentalist group that recently formed a government in Kabul and has been drafting controversial policies in violation of human rights, has sought to make an address to the global leader at the UN’s summit. 

In an unusual move, the Taliban submitted its nomination to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, saying that it wanted to address the United Nations. Afghanistan's Permanent Representative to UN in the now exiled Ashraf Ghani government, Ghulam Isaczai, has defied the Taliban government and is resorting to bloodshed and violence to establishing the "so-called Islamic Emirate.”

But the Taliban have challenged the credentials of Afghanistan’s former UN ambassador and has instead dispatched a communication to UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, said Secretary-General Guterres with an accreditation from the former Afghan Ambassador, Ghulam Isaczai, reports have revealed. 

It should be mentioned here that Afghanistan is scheduled to give the last speech on the final day of the high-level meeting on September 27. However, it remains unclear as to who would speak if the committee met and the Taliban were given Afghanistan's seat.

The terrorist group sent names for the Afghanistan delegation from the newly established government for the Assembly’s 76th annual session on the letterhead titled “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs” which had a seal from the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ameer Khan Muttaqi.

The latter stated in the document that former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani’s government was toppled and hence the world must no longer recognize him as Kabul’s leader. Taliban’s said Foreign Ministry also questioned  Isaczai, stressing that he no longer represents Afghanistan, and listed its new UN permanent representative, Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, Taliban’s spokesperson. 

“No meeting of the credentials committee [of Taliban] has been scheduled so far,” UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement, cited by the Associated Press. 

Qatar's ruler asks world leaders ‘not to boycott Taliban’ at UNGA 

Ruling emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani called for the world leaders gathered at the United Nations to have a diplomatic dialogue with the Taliban and not boycott the newly installed government. Doha, which has played a key mediatory role in the Afghanistan evacuations, asked world leaders to engage with the Taliban. In his address at UN General Assembly, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani stressed: "The necessity of continuing dialogue with Taliban because boycott only leads to polarisation and reactions, whereas dialogue could bring in positive results.”

As Taliban now vouched for “international recognition” at the UN, Senior US State Department officials said they were aware of the Taliban’s request made to UN chief, stressing that the US is a member of the UN credentials committee panel, suggesting that the Taliban’s envoy will not be granted permission to speak at the General Assembly during the high-level leaders’ meeting. 

(IMAGE: AP)