Taliban ask to address UN General Assembly, name new envoy

The Taliban have demanded representation at UN General Assembly’s high-level meeting of world leaders this week, challenging the credentials of Afghanistan’s former UN envoy.

Taliban-appointed Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi made the request in a letter sent to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, according to UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric.  

According to Press TV, in the letter, Muttaqi asked to speak in the course of the Assembly’s annual session, and nominated the group’s Doha-based Spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s new permanent representative to the UN, Dujarric said Wednesday.

The letter also indicated that Ghulam Isaczai, the accredited Afghan ambassador, no longer represents Afghanistan at the UN, stressing that former President Ashraf Ghani was “ousted” on 15 August, the day he fled the country, and that countries across the world no longer recognize him as president.

The letter did not specify whether Muttaqi wanted to travel to New York to speak or the Taliban would submit a recorded video message, as many leaders are doing this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UN spokesman further said Guterres received a separate letter from Isaczai on September 15, containing the list of Afghanistan’s delegation for the session.

Dujarric said both letters have been sent to the General Assembly’s nine-member credentials committee, whose members include Russia, China, the United States, Sweden, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Chile, Bhutan and the Bahamas.

ME