Taliban Request To Address UNGA This Week, Name New UN Envoy Of Afghanistan

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sees the Taliban's desire for international recognition as the only leverage other countries have to press for an inclusive government.

Taliban fighters patrol the streets (File Photo)

New Delhi: The Taliban in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday asked to address world leaders at the United Nations in New York this week. They have nominated their Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan's UN ambassador reported Reuters. 

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi asked in the letter to Guterres asked to speak during the annual high-level meeting of the General Assembly which will conclude on Monday. 

Confirming the letter, Guterres' spokesperson, Farhan Haq said that requests for Afghanistan's U.N. seat had been sent to a nine-member credentials committee, whose members include the United States, China, and Russia. But since it is unlikely for them to meet before Monday, an address from the Taliban is doubtful. 

Acceptance by the UN of the Taliban could help the seriously cash-strapped Afghan economy. Guterres sees the Taliban's desire for international recognition as the only leverage other countries have to press for inclusive government and respect for rights, particularly for women, in Afghanistan.

The Taliban move also comes as a showdown for Ghulam Isaczai, the U.N. ambassador in New York representing Afghanistan's government which had fallen last month after the Taliban takeover. 

Isaczai's mission "is considered over and that he no longer represents Afghanistan," Haq told Reuters. 

Based on the  General Assembly rules, until the credentials committee makes a decision Isaczai will remain in the seat. He schedules to speak on the final day of the Assembly, on September 27, 2021. The committee traditionally meets in October or November and re-assess the credentials of all U.N. members before submitting a report for General Assembly approval before the end of the year. 

Other members of the committee are the Bahamas, Bhutan, Chile, Namibia, Sierra Leone and Sweden.

When the Taliban last ruled between 1996 and 2001 the ambassador of the Afghan government they toppled remained the U.N. representative after the credentials committee deferred its decision on rival claims to the seat.