The Taliban, Afghanistan’s new rulers, have nominated their Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as country’s United Nations (UN) ambassador as they seek to speak at the General Assembly’s high-level meeting of world leaders this week.
According to an Associated Press report, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres received a letter on 15 September with the letterhead “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” signed by “Ameer Khan Muttaqi” as “Minister of Foreign Affairs,” requesting to participate in the UN gathering of world leaders.
The question now facing UN officials comes just over a month after the Taliban, ejected from Afghanistan by the United States and its allies after 9/11, swept back into power as US forces prepared to withdraw from the country at the end of August.
The move sets up a showdown with Ghulam Isaczai, the UN ambassador in New York representing Afghanistan’s government ousted last month by the Taliban.
The Taliban said it was nominating a new UN permanent representative, Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, the UN spokesman said. He has been a spokesman for the Taliban during peace negotiations in Qatar.
Senior US State Department officials said they were aware of the Taliban’s request — the United States is a member of the UN credentials committee — but they would not predict how that panel might rule.
However, one of the officials said the committee “would take some time to deliberate,” suggesting the Taliban’s envoy would not be able to speak at the General Assembly at this session at least during the high-level leaders’ week.
