...mindless ferocity in a turban...
have asked to address world leaders at the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
in New York this week and nominated their Doha-based front man Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan's U.N. ambassador, according to a letter seen by Rooters on Tuesday.
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi made the request in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres
...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years...on Monday. Muttaqi asked to speak during the annual high-level meeting of the General Assembly, which finishes on Monday.
Guterres' spokesperson, Farhan Haq, confirmed Muttaqi's letter. The move sets up a showdown with Ghulam Isaczai, the U.N. ambassador in New York representing Afghanistan's government ousted last month by the Taliban.
Haq said the rival requests for Afghanistan's U.N. seat had been sent to a nine-member credentials committee, whose members include the United States, China and Russia. The committee is unlikely to meet on the issue before Monday, so it is doubtful that the Taliban foreign minister will address the world body.
Eventual U.N. acceptance of the ambassador of the Taliban would be an important step in Taliban's bid for international recognition, which could help unlock badly needed funds for the cash-strapped Afghan economy.
Guterres has said that the Taliban's desire for international recognition is the only leverage other countries have to press for inclusive government and respect for rights, particularly for women, in Afghanistan.
The Taliban letter said Isaczai's mission "is considered over and that he no longer represents Afghanistan," said Haq.
Until a decision is made by the credentials committee Isaczai will remain in the seat, according to the General Assembly rules. He is currently scheduled to address the final day of the meeting on Sept. 27, but it was not immediately clear if any countries might object in the wake of the Taliban letter.
The committee traditionally meets in October or November to assess the credentials of all U.N. members before submitting a report for General Assembly approval before the end of the year. The committee and General Assembly usually operate by consensus on credentials, diplomats said.
Others members of the committee are the Bahamas, Bhutan, Chile, Namibia, Sierra Leone and Sweden.
When the Taliban last ruled between 1996 and 2001 the ambassador of the Afghan government they toppled remained the U.N. representative after the credentials committee deferred its decision on rival claims to the seat.
The decision was postponed "on the understanding that the current representatives of Afghanistan accredited to the United Nations would continue to participate in the work of the General Assembly," according to the committee report.
Taliban face uphill battle in efforts to speak at UN meeting
[AlAhram] The Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
are challenging the credentials of the ambassador from Afghanistan's former government and asking to speak at the General Assembly's high-level meeting of world leaders this week
The new rulers of Afghanistan have an uphill battle in their efforts to be recognized in time to address other world leaders at the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
this year.
The Taliban are challenging the credentials of the ambassador from Afghanistan's former government and asking to speak at the General Assembly's high-level meeting of world leaders this week, according to a letter sent to the United Nations.
The decision now rests with a U.N. committee that generally meets in November and will issue a ruling ``in due course,`` the General Assembly's spokeswoman said Wednesday.
U.N. officials are confronting this dilemma just over a month after the Taliban, ejected from Afghanistan by the United States and its allies after 9/11, swept back into power by taking over territory with surprising speed as U.S. forces prepared to withdraw from the country at the end of August. The Western-backed government collapsed on Aug. 15.
In cases of disputes over seats at the United Nations, the General Assembly's nine-member credentials committee must meet to make a decision. Letters from Afghanistan's currently recognized U.N. ambassador, Ghulam Isaczai, who represents the former government, and from Taliban Foreign Minister Ameer Khan Muttaqi, are before the committee, assembly spokeswoman Monica Grayley said.
``Only the committee can decide when to meet,'' Grayley said.
The committee's members are the United States, Russia, China, Bahama, Bhutan, Chile, Namibia, Sierra Leone and Sweden.
Afghanistan is listed as the final speaker of the ministerial meeting on Monday, Sept. 27, and if there no decision by then, Isaczai, Afghanistan's currently recognized U.N. ambassador, will give the address.
When the Taliban last ruled from 1996 to 2001, the U.N. refused to recognize their government and instead gave Afghanistan's seat to the previous, warlord-dominated government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani
... the gentlemanly murdered legitimate president of Afghanistan...
, who was killed by a jacket wallah in 2011. It was Rabbani's government that brought the late Osama bin Laden
...... who used to be alive but now he's not......, the criminal mastermind of 9/11, to Afghanistan from Sudan in 1996.
The Taliban have said they want international recognition and financial help to rebuild the war-battered country. But the makeup of the new Taliban government poses a dilemma for the United Nations. Several of the interim ministers -- including Muttaqi -- are on the U.N.'s so-called blacklist of international turbans and funders of terrorism.
Credentials committee members could also use Taliban recognition as leverage to press for a more inclusive government that guarantees human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of
freedomat the convenience of the state...
, especially for girls who were barred from going to school during their previous rule, and women who weren't able to work.