KABUL (Tolo News): The Islamic Emirate reacted to the letter sent by two Republican members of the US Congress to the UN that called on the United Nations to not recognize the current Afghan government in the world body, nor to lift international sanctions.
Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Michael Waltz said in the letter to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the appointment of the “Taliban” representative to the UN would be against the “very values that the United Nations seeks to promote.” “It is also important to note that denying recognition to the Afghan Taliban would follow historic precedence,” the letter said. “We also express our opposition to any effort by the United Nations or the international community to lift sanctions against the ‘Afghan Taliban,'” the letter said. Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate said that the two US lawmakers made the remarks out of “hatred.”
“Those who take an opposing stance toward the Islamic Emirate in the US–they are the ones who supported the war. The US war of the past 20 years was provoked and dictated by them. Now the war ended and it is in the interest of both Afghanistan and the US, but they show hatred. I can explain that this (letter) is a wrong idea,” he said. Lindsey and Waltz wrote: “Taliban repress the rights of women and girls, hunt down and murdered individuals who have helped the United States and other NATO forces.”
The spokesman for the Islamic Emirate’s Qatar-based political office, Suhail Shaheen, said that the Islamic Emirate was committed to fulfilling the Doha agreement signed between the US and the Islamic Emirate on February 29, 2021. “What is more important than the acceptance of or engagement with the Afghan government, is that Afghanistan should hold its position in the United Nations,” said Toreq Farhadi, an international relations analyst.
This comes as the current Afghan government, despite being in power for over three months, has yet to be recognized by the international community. The US Treasury Department froze the Afghan bank assets of nearly $10 billion dollars. Earlier, the United States Special Representative for Afghanistan, Thomas West, reacted to the letter of the Islamic Emirate to the US Congress that called for the release of Afghanistan’s central bank assets.
The Islamic Emirate in its letter to the US Congress said that the economic and financial problems in Afghanistan are rooted in the freezing of the Afghan assets by the US government. “Currently the fundamental challenge of our people is financial security and the roots of this concern lead back to the freezing of assets of our people by the American government,” the Islamic Emirate letter read.
West responded, saying that Afghanistan was already suffering from a humanitarian crisis even before the collapse of the former government. “Afghanistan was unfortunately already suffering a terrible humanitarian crisis before mid-August, made worse by war, years of drought, and the pandemic,” he said. In a series of tweets, West said the US officials had made it clear to the Taliban years ago that taking power by force would result in non-humanitarian aid cut.
“US officials made clear to the Taliban for years that if they pursued a military takeover rather than a negotiated settlement with fellow Afghans then critical non-humanitarian aid provided by the international community – in an economy enormously dependent on aid, including for basic services – would all but cease. That is what occurred,” he said. West said the US will continue engaging with the Islamic Emirate diplomatically but legitimacy should be earned by the Taliban by taking steps toward forming an inclusive government and respecting human rights, especially women’s rights.
“We will continue clear-eyed, candid diplomacy with the Taliban. Legitimacy and support must be earned by actions to address terrorism, establish an inclusive government, and respect the rights of minorities, women and girls – including equal access to education and employment,” he said. The US envoy for Afghanistan says that the US will continue its humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. He said this year the US has provided $474 million and is making every effort to help the humanitarian actors in providing humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan.
