Integrating religious values and protecting national interests are crucial to Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration, which has informed the United Nations that it will not tolerate external interference in its internal affairs. This response was submitted to the U.N. in light of an assessment on how to engage with the newly empowered Islamists, as requested by the U.N. Security Council and submitted by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this month.
The assessment provides a strategy for political engagement aimed at reintegrating Afghanistan into the global community after the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021. The international community sees the recognition of the Taliban-led administration and its participation in the United Nations as vital leverage to advocate for an inclusive government and the protection of human rights, especially those of women, in Afghanistan.
According to the assessment, the rights of women and girls, including access to education, employment, and participation in public and political life, are fundamental obligations of the state. The document emphasizes the need for Afghan women’s leadership to achieve long-term development, economic growth, and sustainable peace and security. The assessment was authored by veteran Turkish diplomat Feridun Sinirlioglu.
Since assuming power, the Taliban has imposed restrictions on women and girls, including barring most girls from high school and women from universities, as well as preventing female staff from working at aid agencies, closing beauty salons, and limiting women’s freedom of movement without a male guardian. The Taliban claims to respect rights based on their interpretation of Islamic law.
In response to the assessment, the Taliban-led administration stated that the government is obligated to consider religious values and national interests in all engagements and will not allow external interference in internal affairs. The administration highlighted that Afghan women have secured some basic rights, with about 23.4% of all Afghan civil servants being women, and unprecedented numbers of women participating in leadership positions and roles in business, commerce, and manufacturing sectors. Furthermore, the administration claimed to have provided stipends to thousands of street beggars, a majority of whom were women, whom they had collected from the streets.
Despite these claims, the United Nations reports that two-thirds of Afghanistan’s 43 million people require humanitarian aid.
The independent assessment submitted to the Security Council recommended the appointment of a U.N. special envoy on Afghanistan, a suggestion that the Taliban rejected as “unacceptable.”
(Michelle Nichols; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
