In another sign of the times, the Taliban — the militant Islamic terrorist group which now runs most of Afghanistan — has named a special envoy to the United Nations and is requesting to address the UN’s General Assembly this week as world leaders convene in New York City.
On September 20, Suhail Shaheen, who currently serves as the Taliban’s spokesperson in Qatar, was nominated to be the terror group’s ambassador to the UN.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres first received word on September 15 from the former Afghan government’s ambassador, Ghulam Isaczai, regarding who would be attending this week’s meeting in New York.
On Monday, Guterres received a letter from the Taliban’s new foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi. The new foreign minister disputed the former ambassador’s claim to the diplomatic credentials and requested to speak with the General Assembly.
Reportedly, the letter explains that the former government and its president, Ashraf Ghani, had been “ousted” as of August 15 and that countries across the world “no longer recognize him as president.” Therefore, Isaczai should no longer represent Afghanistan at the UN.
Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for Guterres, confirmed receipt of the communication and has sent both requests to the nine-member UN credentials committee.
“The Secretary-General received a communication with the letterhead ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ dated 20 September 2021, signed by ‘Ameer Khan Muttaqi’ as ‘Minister of Foreign Affairs,’ requesting to participate in the ’76th session of the UN General Assembly on September 21-27 2021,'” Dujarric said.
No meeting of that credentials committee, which includes members from the United States, China, and Russia, has yet been scheduled, making it unlikely that the Taliban’s new foreign minister will address the UN during this week’s meeting.
Few nations have yet recognized the Taliban’s new government, but the Islamic terrorist group is working hard to garner that recognition. The UN and the Taliban are reportedly working together to provide food and other aid amid a burgeoning humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country, for instance.
And of course, the U.S. government says it is still communicating with the group in an effort to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies who remain in the country.
But the Taliban’s subjugation of women and its brutal cultural edicts are bound to keep many countries from offering formal recognition.
Last week, approximately two dozen former Afghan diplomats released a statement pleading with countries not to legitimize the Taliban’s new government with any formal recognition.
In that statement, the diplomats ask that the world “Not further legitimize the Taliban by recognizing their interim government in Kabul. Recognizing the so-called Islamic Emirate of the Taliban will not only legitimize the group but also validate their suppressive regime and forceful subjugation of the Afghan people to their rule. The Taliban is a terrorist group. Most of the Taliban leaders and members of their interim government are on the UN sanction list as terrorists.”
In addition, a group of GOP lawmakers are urging the Biden administration not to recognize the Taliban’s new government. In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a group led by Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) expressed their concerns.
“Since reestablishing control of Afghanistan, the Taliban resumed the same murderous and oppressive habits that characterized their leadership tenure prior to the arrival of U.S. forces in 2001,” the group, which includes Senators Ernst, Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), wrote.
A quick recognition of the new “Islamic Emirate of the Taliban” seems unlikely — at least in America. With Americans still trapped in the country, it’s unlikely that even the Biden administration would make such a gigantic mistake.
But the United Nations may be a different story. Only nine members of the 15 member Security Council must agree to the Taliban’s inclusion at the UN. Certainly the United States has veto power over that inclusion, but can we trust this administration to veto the Taliban’s membership after it simply gave them Afghanistan?
Perhaps soon, we’ll see a representative from the Taliban seated on the UN’s Human Rights Council alongside other paragons of human rights such as China, Cuba, Pakistan, and Venezuela.
