DOHA, Qatar — Taliban officers despatched a defiant message to Western nations, donors and Afghan girls’s teams this week, refusing to attend a convention hosted by the United Nations to debate humanitarian crises going through Afghanistan and cooperation on human rights points.
The 2-day convention, which started on Sunday, was the second of its variety. It was held to attempt to chart a course ahead for worldwide engagement with the nation. However the Taliban administration took subject with the inclusion of some teams on the assembly. Attended by particular envoys from 25 international locations and regional organizations, the convention is aimed toward rising worldwide engagement with Afghanistan and creating a extra coordinated response to the issues afflicting the war-torn nation.
The Taliban administration, the de facto rulers of Afghanistan since 2021, had been invited to the convention however on the final minute the group mentioned it might not attend. In an announcement, the Taliban’s Ministry of International Affairs mentioned it ought to be the only real official consultant of Afghanistan for talks with the worldwide neighborhood and solely then might have interaction in frank discussions. Inclusion of others would hinder progress, the assertion added.
“This authorities of Afghanistan can’t be coerced by anybody,” it acknowledged.
Representatives from Afghan civil society, girls’s teams, the Group of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Group have been current on the convention. Afghan political opposition events, together with the Nationwide Resistance Entrance, which has a small armed wing, weren’t invited, though that they had requested to be included.
The Taliban administration’s determination, introduced on the eve of the convention, appeared to have been made to keep away from awkward conversations with Afghans dwelling exterior the nation who oppose the Taliban authorities’ exclusion of ladies, and political opponents inside Afghanistan, a number of delegates mentioned.
“The Taliban’s refusal to take part within the Doha Convention and have interaction in a significant dialogue with all sides, particularly the courageous girls of Afghanistan, reveals the group’s lack of curiosity in looking for a sturdy political settlement,” Fawzia Koofi, a former member of the Afghan parliament, mentioned in an announcement on X, previously Twitter.
“I used to be hopeful till final night time,” mentioned Mahbouba Seraj, a girls’s rights advocate. “We’re divided into two halves. it’s inconceivable to have half of Afghanistan right here and half over in Afghanistan.”
She criticized the Taliban for complaining that it was “unreasonable” to have Afghans who weren’t members of the Taliban included within the convention.
Human rights teams and political opponents of the Taliban administration, which has declared the nation an Islamic Emirate, say the Afghan authorities ought to enable a pluralistic political system and embrace girls and ethnic minorities in its authorities.
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