The UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, the new representative of the UN Secretary-General and the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), starts her work in Kabul.
At the beginning of her mission, she met with Maulvi Amir Khan Mottaqi, the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Taliban.
The Office of the United Nations Assistant in Kabul (UNAMA) wrote in a tweet this evening (Saturday, September 15 2022) that Otunbayeva and Mottaqi discussed various issues for cooperation, including trust building, the banking system, and girls’ education. UNAMA has written that the two sides acknowledge the differences. Still, they have agreed on the need to bring Afghanistan and the international community closer for the sake of the people.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the Taliban’s foreign ministry spokesman, also tweeted that Mottaqi congratulated the UN envoy on her new mission and assured her of cooperation. Mottaqi added that now is the time for the world and Afghanistan to get closer and understand each other’s conditions, priorities, and demands. He said that UNAMA could do this better.
Balkhi quoted Otunbaywa as writing that UNAMA acts as a bridge between Kabul and the world and “we will do our best to convey your message to the world about how to revive Afghanistan.”
According to the Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesperson, the head of UNAMA said that her office would try to revive the Afghanistan [reconstruction] fund and find a reliable bank.
Balkhi says that the head of UNAMA also expressed satisfaction with the provision of security and said that “there are sensitive issues that both sides should work on together.”
According to Balkhi, Roza Otunbaeva said that many things are happening in Afghanistan and that the country’s image is “not only black and white.”
While appreciating the views of the head of UNAMA, the Taliban’s foreign minister expressed hope that UNAMA will convey the facts of Afghanistan to the world within the framework of its responsibility. Because according to the Taliban foreign minister, “some media have presented a negative image of Afghanistan to the world.”
Mottaqi said that millions of boys and girls study in a safe environment. This is even though the Taliban have closed schools above the sixth grade to girls. The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Taliban has further said that drug cultivation and trafficking is another area that this group’s government has taken practical steps against in a short time.
The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Taliban has further said that drug cultivation and trafficking is another area that this group’s government has taken practical steps against in a short time. In the end, Mottaqii assured the new head of UNAMA that all the problems would be solved.
Afghanistan has faced an economic and human rights crisis after the Taliban took hold of the power. Currently it is estimated that half of the population of Afghanistan is facing hunger and needs help. Taliban are accused of widespread human rights violations, including women’s rights. The group strictly prohibited women’s education and work. Likewise, contrary to the Taliban’s claim about providing security, insecurity is rising in Afghanistan. Two weeks ago, a school in the west of Kabul was targeted by a suicide attack, and about 58 students, primarily teenage girls, were killed.
