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The Taliban have appointed an ambassador to represent Afghanistan at the United Nations, UN officials said on Tuesday, injecting a new twist into what was already a delicate diplomatic dilemma within the world organization.
The nomination, submitted on Monday to Secretary-General António Guterres, sets up a confrontation with the deputy of the overthrown Afghan government, Ghulam Isaczai, who has so far retained his post.
The showdown might not be resolved anytime soon. But it raised the surprising prospect that the Taliban – the violent extremist Islamic movement that took power last month as the US-backed government collapsed – would take an ambassadorial seat at the United Nations.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for Mr. Guterres, confirmed a Reuters report that the secretary general was briefed on the Taliban’s request in a letter signed by Amir Khan Muttaqi, identified as the movement’s foreign minister. The letter stated that the Taliban’s choice as ambassador to the UN was Suhail Shaheen, the movement’s spokesperson based in Doha, Qatar.
The letter further indicated that Mr. Muttaqi wished to address the General Assembly, which began on Tuesday and ends next Monday.
Dujarric said the Taliban’s request had been passed on to the General Assembly’s Credentials Committee, a nine-member group that includes the United States. As of Tuesday, we still did not know when the committee could assess the request.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was aware of the Taliban’s request, said it raised a number of questions about Mr. Shaheen and the members of the Taliban hierarchy who had chosen him.
“Who does he represent? “ Qureshi said, answering questions on the request during a session with reporters on the future of Afghanistan, held by the Foreign Press Association on the sidelines of the General Assembly. “Who does he report to? What type of communication can you have with a person at the UN who is not recognized? It is a complex and evolving situation.
The Taliban’s triumphant return to control of Afghanistan is among the crises facing the General Assembly this week, as well as Myanmar’s brutal military coup earlier this year. The two events created a conundrum for the world’s largest diplomatic gathering: who is each country’s legitimate representative?
The Taliban remain subject to UN economic sanctions. Many countries, including the United States, have said any request by the Taliban to replace Afghanistan’s envoy to the 193-member organization should be carefully considered.
In Myanmar, the junta that took power in February and has been widely condemned for a deadly crackdown on opponents has also sought to replace the ousted government’s UN ambassador to the ousted government with a junta loyalist.
Envoys from all manner of political systems, including parliamentary democracies, monarchies, and dictatorships, have long worked at the United Nations, the one place in the world where even governments that reject the ideologies of others enjoy some degree of equality. status. Yet there are standards for verifying the legitimacy of emissaries and the governments they represent.
“Normally a country has the right to nominate someone,” Volkan Bozkir, a Turkish statesman and outgoing General Assembly president, told reporters at his farewell press conference this month. .
“We can’t say, ‘I don’t like this government,'” Bozkir said, seeking to resolve UN disputes over who is – and is not – the legitimate envoy of a country.
A seat at the United Nations has symbolic meaning, a benchmark of a government’s credibility and acceptance in the world community, even if rivals oppose it.
Membership in the United Nations offers governments the opportunity not only to speak and be heard in the General Assembly, but also to participate in a range of other United Nations agencies such as the World Health Organization. and the Human Rights Council. Thus, the accreditation of a country’s ambassador to speak on their behalf is extremely important.
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