At a briefing to the Security Council, Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, spoke of the dire humanitarian and human rights situation in Afghanistan, and the failure of the Taliban to live up to its international commitments. She pointed to the draconian Law on the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, with its “negative economic effects and impacts on Afghans’ human rights and private lives”:
“The law demonstrates the de facto authorities’ prioritization of ideology over international obligations. It remains a major impediment to implementing the political pathway needed to reintegrate Afghanistan into the international community.”
U.S. Chargé d ’Affaires ad interim Dorothy Shea emphasized that the “UN must be a stronger voice of the international community in pressing the Taliban to change course:”
“Afghanistan cannot achieve self-reliance and stability so long as the Afghan people remain subject to oppressive Taliban restrictions that strangle the economy. The situation for Afghan women and girls is particularly devastating given the over 80 edicts directly targeting their access to education, commercial activities, and overall participation in the economy.”
Ambassador Shea noted that the security threat emanating from Afghanistan “is a continuing driver of regional instability.” She pointed out that in February, the UN’s 1267 Monitoring Team assessed that the terrorist organization ISIS-K, operating in Afghanistan, posed the greatest extra regional terrorist threat.
“We call on the Taliban to abide by their counterterrorism commitments. The Taliban must ensure Afghanistan can never again be used as a safe haven for terrorist groups to threaten the security of the United States, our allies, or any country.”
Ambassador Shea noted that Afghanistan is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with over 22 million Afghans relying on emergency humanitarian assistance.
“The Taliban’s repressive policies and Afghanistan’s struggling economy are drivers of human displacement, which strains the region’s limited resources and contributes to further destabilization.”
“We cannot build confidence with a group that unjustly detains Americans, has a long history of harboring terrorist groups on its soil, and ignores the basic rights and needs of its own people,” declared Ambassador Shea. “We look forward to working with members of this Council to maintain consensus on our collective demand that the Taliban act responsibly.”
