Background:
The Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, voiced opposition to the appointment of a UN special envoy for Afghanistan during a meeting with Russian special envoy Zamir Kabulov.(20240424)

The Taliban has said the appointment of a UN envoy is unnecessary because the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which primarily coordinates humanitarian and development efforts, is already present in the country.

The UN Security Council decided to initiate a serious process of consultations to see if there are conditions to create a UN Envoy that might be able not only to have a coordinating role in relation to the engagements that are taking place but that can also work effectively with the de facto authorities of Afghanistan.(20240219)

Acting IEA Deputy Foreign Minister, Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanakzai, reiterated its position on the appointment of a special envoy: A UN special envoy is always appointed when there is a crisis or a problem in a country. In Afghanistan, there are no problems. At the same time, UNAMA is active here and there is a UN representative. They are cooperating with us both in political and humanitarian affairs. Therefore, we don’t see a need for another UN envoy, which would create another problem.
 

In an apparent reference to the participation of civil society representatives at the meeting in Doha, he said:

Sometimes people who have no role in the government, no authority from the government and no legitimacy among the Afghan people are invited to meetings in order to portray the Islamic Emirate as weak and to create controversy. So the Taliban has opposed the appointment of an envoy, an international interlocutor who would be tasked with promoting dialogue between the extremist group and exiled opposition political figures. The Taliban thinks that it is not necessary to have a political dialogue with people who have left the country.

Two and a half years on from the fall of the Islamic Republic, Afghanistan is still ruled by a government that is not recognised and is still under sanctions. An Independent Assessment offeres a broad roadmap aimed at moving beyond the impasse caused by international condemnation of the Emirate on the one hand and the Emirate’s determination not to ‘bow’ to outside pressure on what it considers sovereign issues on the other. Appointing a special envoy was intended to be a mechanism to facilitate engagement and discussion. Yet, as the rest of the world continues to wrangle over the appointment of a special envoy, which should, at best, be a procedural matter, the well-being of the Afghan people hangs in the balance.

Three names being floated as possible envoy candidates: Japanese diplomat Tadamichi Yamamoto, who was the secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan between 2016 and 2020, former British ambassador to Afghanistan Nicholas Kay and Turkey’s current Ambassador to Kabul, Cihad Erginay. (20240403)