Asserting that there is no time for blame game anymore, Afghanistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ghulam Isaczai on Monday said that the powerful Security Council and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres must not recognise any administration that achieves power through force. Isaczai, at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in war-torn Afghanistan, urged the UNSC to unequivocally state that it does not recognise the restoration of the Islamic Emirate.
Today I’m speaking on behalf of millions of people in Afghanistan whose fate hangs in the balance and are faced with an extremely uncertain future, he said. There is no time for blame game anymore. We have an opportunity to prevent further violence, prevent Afghanistan descending into a civil war and becoming a pariah state.
Therefore, the Security Council and the UN Secretary General should use every means at its disposal to call for an immediate cessation of violence and respect for human rights and international humanitarian law, Isaczai said. He said the international community must call on the Taliban to fully respect the general amnesty offered by it, cease target killings and revenge attacks, and abide by the international humanitarian law, urge that no public institutions and service delivery infrastructure be demolished, including works of arts in museums and media institutions.
The global community must stress that anyone violating human rights of Africans and international humanitarian law will be held accountable, he said. The UNSC and Guterres must stress that the Council and the UN will not recognise any administration that achieves power through force or any government that is not inclusive and representative of its diversity of the country, unequivocally state that it does not recognise the restoration of the Islamic Emirate as reaffirmed in previous council statements and agreements, establish international guarantees for the implementation of a future political agreement.
Stressing that he is speaking for millions of Afghan girls and women who are about to lose their freedom to go to school, to work and to participate in the political, economic and social life of the country, Isaczai called on the international community to urgently establish a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of those at risk of the Taliban’s retributions and attacks. The Council and the global community should call on neighbouring countries of Afghanistan to open their borders and facilitate exit of people trying to escape and entry of goods for humanitarian relief and operations, call for the immediate establishment of an inclusive and representative transitional government that includes all ethnic groups and women representatives, which can lead to a dignified and lasting solution to the conflict, bring peace and preserve the gains of the last 20 years, especially for women and girls.
He said the situation in Kabul, a city of about 6-million people, is extremely worrying to say the least. You have seen chaotic scenes at the Kabul International Airport as desperate citizens are trying to leave the country. We are extremely concerned about the Taliban not honouring their promises and commitments made in their statements at Doha and at other international fora. We’ve witnessed time and again how the Taliban have broken their promises and commitments in the past.
We have seen gruesome images of the Taliban’s mass executions of military personnel and target killings of civilians in Kandahar and other big cities, the Afghan envoy said. We cannot allow this to happen in Kabul which has been the last refuge for many people escaping violence and the Taliban’s revenge attacks, Isaczai said, adding that Kabul residents are reporting the Taliban have already started house to house searches in some neighbourhoods, registering names and looking for people in their target list.
“There are already reports of target killings and looting in the city. Kabul residents are living in absolute fear right now, he said. He also called for mobilising urgent humanitarian assistance for the 18 million people of Afghanistan, particularly those displaced by the current conflict.
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