Anxiety in Afghanistan as Taliban struggles for legitimacy

Deborah Lyons, UN Special Representative and Head of the UN Assistance Mission successful Afghanistan (UNAMA), said that contempt an betterment successful the information situation, Afghans consciousness abandoned by the planetary assemblage and anxious astir their caller leadership.

“Ultimately, the Taliban indispensable determine connected whether to govern according to the needs and rights of the divers Afghan population, oregon whether to regularisation connected the ground of a constrictive ideology and adjacent narrower taste base”, she stated.

Disengagement a ‘historic mistake’

Emphasizing that the Taliban are genuinely trying to contiguous themselves arsenic a Government, the Special Representative said that they are constrained by a deficiency of resources and a governmental ideology that clashes with modern planetary norms of governance.

Moreover, the Taliban has neither earned the spot of astir Afghans nor convinced the nationals of their capableness to govern.

Against that tenuous backdrop, Ms. Lyons stressed that the planetary assemblage indispensable stay engaged with Taliban leaders successful bid to signifier a much affirmative aboriginal trajectory.

“To wantonness the Afghan radical present would beryllium a historical mistake – a mistake that has been made earlier with tragic consequences”, she warned.

Trust deficits

Outlining her team’s aboriginal interactions with the de facto Taliban administration, the Special Representative said engagements person been mostly utile and constructive. 

The de facto authorities person indicated that they privation a UN beingness and worth its assistance.  

They proceed to question planetary designation arsenic good arsenic ways to flooded the spot shortage that they admit exists betwixt them and the planetary community.

The Taliban proceed to supply information to UN unit and let wide humanitarian access, including for women humanitarian workers, allowing entree to parts of the state that had not been visited for 15 years.

“Be assured that we person not shied distant from raising hard issues with the Taliban, peculiarly connected women’s rights, girls’ acquisition and connected reports … of harassment and extra-judicial killings”, underscored the UN official.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Deborah Lyons, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Assistance Mission successful Afghanistan, briefs the Security Council gathering connected the concern successful the country.

Women and girls

Ms. Lyons said that successful general, the Taliban person recognized the planetary community’s concerns – often acknowledging mistakes and trying to code them.

However, they besides marque wide that for present determination are limits to the concessions they are consenting to marque connected definite issues, including those relating to the rights and freedoms of women.

While the de facto authorities had initially assured the planetary assemblage that they would support women’s rights wrong Islamic instrumentality – including the close to acquisition – determination has nevertheless been a wide curtailment of their cardinal rights and freedoms.

From a woman’s close to work, to their lack from large decision-making fora and elder echelons of the civilian service, their limitations person go obvious.

And the Taliban authorities person indicated that they are moving connected a nation-wide argumentation to govern girls’ close to education.

The champion mode to beforehand stableness and aboriginal planetary enactment is for the Taliban to debar the isolation that characterized their erstwhile acquisition successful powerfulness – Special Representative

Building constructive relations

Ms. Lyons told Council members that Afghans mostly consciousness apprehensive implicit Taliban intentions.

Among their apical concerns are the country’s paralyzed economy, the inability to retreat wealth and fears of not being capable to provender themselves during the winter.

The UN has besides received credible reports of location searches and extra-judicial killings of erstwhile Government information unit and officials. 

Meanwhile to date, the Taliban has proven its inability to stem the enlargement of Islamic State successful Iraq and the Levant - Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP), wherever violent attacks person accrued from 60 successful 2020 to 334 truthful acold this year.

In that context, Ms. Lyons called for the gradual constitution of constructive relations betwixt Afghanistan and the satellite astatine large.

“The champion mode to beforehand stableness and aboriginal planetary enactment is for the Taliban to debar the isolation that characterized their erstwhile acquisition successful power”, stressed the Special Representative.