Briefing the UN Security Council on Afghanistan on Wednesday, Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Special Representative for Afghanistan and the head of UNAMA, said that a faction within the Taliban disagrees with the group’s way of governing.
“I believe that there is a faction within the Taliban leadership, and across the movement, that does not agree with the current direction the leadership has taken. This faction understands that attention must be paid to the real needs of the people,” she said.
Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said has become “the most repressive” country for women in the world.
However, she hoped that the Taliban leadership would listen to the international community on reversing their restrictions on women and girls’ rights to work and education.
Roza Otunbayeva called for the creation of “an agenda for discussions with the Taliban” to build confidence and help alleviate the country’s humanitarian needs.
Some senior Taliban figures have recently gone public expressing unhappiness about the group’s leadership direction.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the Haqqani Network and the Taliban’s minister of interior, recently criticisedthe group’s supreme leader by warning against “monopolization of power” and “imposing views on others”.
