Ghulam Mohammad Isaczai, who was appointed as Afghanistan representative to the UN by the former government ousted by the Taliban, will address the 76th United Nations General Assembly, not the Taliban representative.
Quoting UN spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, the Reuters reported him as saying “for now, the Afghanistan representative inscribed on the list for Monday is Mr. Ghulam M. Isaczai.”
This comes days after the Taliban sent a letter to the UN Secretary General António Guterres asking for Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s acting foreign minister, to address the UNGA. The Taliban had further asked the UN for giving credential to their Doha based spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, as Afghanistan permanent representative and firing Mr. Isaczai.
UN accreditation issues are dealt with by a nine-member committee, whose members include the United States, China and Russia. It traditionally meets in October or November so a decision would not be made in time that would allow Muttaqi to address the high-level General Assembly meeting this year.
On the other hand, as reported by the Reuters, China, Russia, and the United States had reached an understanding allowing representative of the ousted Myanmar elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, Kyaw Moe Tun, to remain in the country’s UN seat as long as he does not speak during the high-level meeting.
Until a decision is made by the credentials committee on both Afghanistan and Myanmar, Isaczai and Kyaw Moe Tun will remain in the seats, according to the General Assembly rules.
