Taliban govt wants to deliver speech at UN, names envoy

NEW YORK: The Taliban’s new foreign minister has requested to address world leaders at this week’s UN General Assembly meeting in New York, a United Nations spokesman said on Tuesday.

The ambassador of the Afghan government ousted by the Taliban last month has also requested to speak, with the United Nations yet to decide who will represent the country at the world body.

A nine-member credentials committee will now rule on the duelling requests, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told AFP, but it is unclear whether the committee will meet before the end of the convocation.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres received a letter from Taliban-appointed Amir Khan Muttaqi “requesting to participate” in the high-level debate, Dujarric said.

It was dated September 20 the day before the session got underway - and listed Muttaqi as “minister of foreign affairs”, he added.

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

The letter also indicated that Ghulam Isaczai “no longer represents” Afghanistan at the United Nations. He was the ambassador to the UN of the Afghan government ousted from power in August as US military troops exited the country, ending their 20-year war.

The letter said that the Taliban had nominated their Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

The note, which had the letterhead “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, ministry of foreign affairs”, said that former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani was “ousted” on August 15, the day he fled the country.