{"id":8741,"date":"2022-03-03T02:50:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T02:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/?p=8741"},"modified":"2022-10-15T14:20:37","modified_gmt":"2022-10-15T14:20:37","slug":"unama-chief-urges-the-world-to-engage-with-the-taliban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/2022\/03\/unama-chief-urges-the-world-to-engage-with-the-taliban\/","title":{"rendered":"UNAMA chief urges the world to engage with the Taliban"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONITORING (SW) – Urging the world to engage with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the top UN envoy in Kabul has said that the Afghan people cannot be truly assisted without working with the de facto authorities in the war-ravaged country. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Six months after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, it is time for concerned countries to deepen their engagement with the country\u2019s new authorities and take action to prevent an irreversible economic collapse, the top UN official in Kabul told the Security Council\u00a0on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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Thanking donors for generous humanitarian contributions since August 2021, when international forces left Afghanistan after a two-decades-long engagement, she said the worst possible outcome was averted thanks to their support.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the winter season comes to an end, we have perhaps averted our worst fears of famine and widespread starvation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Those short-term mitigation measures notwithstanding, however, the Special Representative told Council members that humanitarian relief is not the same as giving hope to the Afghan people or preparing a strong foundation for Afghan self-reliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is imperative that we not find ourselves six months from now in the situation we faced six months ago – with millions of Afghans facing another winter of starvation and the only tool at our disposal being expensive and unsustainable humanitarian handouts,\u201d\u00a0she said.<\/p>\n

Today, the most critical challenge facing the country is a looming economic tipping point that will see more businesses close, more people unemployed and more falling into poverty.<\/p>\n

She also cited a cessation of all development assistance and restrictions on international payments, as well as lack of access to hard currency reserves, lack of liquidity and constraints on the Central Bank.<\/p>\n

While UNAMA has taken all conceivable measures to inject liquidity into the economy, she stressed that more international action is needed.<\/p>\n

Ms. Lyons recalled that, when UNAMA\u2019s mandate was rolled over for six months in September\u202f2021, it was still too early for the international community to react to the Taliban\u2019s seizure of power.<\/p>\n

Today, it has become clear that\u00a0truly assisting the Afghan people will be all but impossible without working with the de facto Taliban authorities.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging the enduring distrust between the Taliban and much of the international community, she said\u00a0the group feels misunderstood\u00a0and complains that international reports \u201cdo not reflect reality as they see it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Above all, the Taliban want greater acknowledgement for the security that now prevails in Afghanistan, and often point out that since the fall of the previous Government the country has seen a 78 per cent decline in civilian casualties.<\/p>\n

They also cite reduced corruption and the re-opening of schools to girls and boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis clash of perspectives forms the basis of a serious distrust that must be addressed,\u201d\u00a0said the Special Representative.<\/p>\n

For its part, she said, UNAMA, continues to report on what it sees on the ground, including concerning restrictions on fundamental rights, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention.<\/p>\n

Describing the country\u2019s situation as complicated – with both positive and negative trends occurring simultaneously – she said the Mission can do more by working with the Taliban on the main issues facing Afghan society.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, UNAMA\u2019s main purpose must remain to ultimately see Afghanistan re-join the international community as a member in good standing.<\/p>\n

Against that backdrop,\u00a0Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres\u00a0has proposed a one-year UNAMA mandate renewal, after which the results of a sustained political engagement will be evaluated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mandate you adopt for UNAMA will send a signal from the international community to the Afghan people that they have not been forgotten, and to the Taliban that the world does not desire future conflict in Afghanistan,\u201d said Ms. Lyons, adding that it should also emphasize the need to recognize basic standards of global citizenship in order to be accepted by the international community.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are about to approach a critical moment in your relationship with Afghanistan,\u201d she said, noting that the Council has the opportunity to build a more solid and relevant UN Mission that will avert the country\u2019s further collapse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONITORING (SW) – Urging the world to engage with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the top UN envoy in Kabul has said that the Afghan people cannot be truly assisted without working with the de facto authorities in the war-ravaged country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17,18,200,982,5,8,4,6,7],"tags":[222,517,683,12,13],"class_list":["post-8741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soceity","category-security_","category-peace","category-democracy-human-rights","category-international","category-politics_","category-governance","category-news_","category-afghanistan","category-headline","tag-unama","tag-unsc","tag-islamic-emirate","tag-afghanistan","tag-taliban"],"views":433,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12236,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8741\/revisions\/12236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}