KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban has rejected the UN Secretary-General’s recent report, which highlighted internal divisions within the regime and the increase in security incidents in Afghanistan, calling it “Forgery and Biased.”
In a statement released on Thursday, March 7th, the Taliban spokesperson, Zahibullah Mujahid, accused the UN of trying to divert the mentality of the people by misinterpreting positives as negatives.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [Taliban] considers this report suspicious and incorrect, and calls it a misuse of the name and title of the United Nations.”
In his quarterly report released on Wednesday, March 6, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted a growing internal disagreement among Taliban authorities over governance issues.
Additionally, he noted a 38% increase in conflict-related security incidents in Afghanistan from November 1, 2023, to January 10, 2024, compared to the same period the previous year.
The UN chief further noted that the regime continues to appoint and reshuffle individuals loyal to their Kandahar-based supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, in government positions.
According to the report, the UN documented 1,508 security-related incidents, marking a 38% increase from the 1,090 incidents recorded during the same period in the previous year.
“The central region saw the highest number of incidents, with 263 incidents recorded during the period, followed by the north-eastern region, where 247 incidents were recorded,” the report highlighted.
In his report, the UN chief pointed out that while armed opposition groups posed no territorial challenges to the regime in Kabul, the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) continued its campaign of assassinations and small-scale attacks against Taliban forces. At least 24 confirmed attacks were carried out by the AFF during the reporting period.
The Taliban spokesperson said that the UN chief’s report is an action carried out upon the request of specific intelligence agencies and groups that are attempting to put pressure on the Taliban.
He claimed that the majority of the security incidents mentioned in the report are those in which Taliban security forces conducted operations against drug dealers in Afghanistan.
“Instead of praising the successful operation against drug dealers by the security forces of the Islamic Emirate [Taliban], it has unfortunately been misinterpreted to portray Afghanistan as an unsafe and insecure country,” he said.
The Taliban spokesperson claimed that last year, as a result of their rapid fight against drugs, approximately 14,000 smugglers were arrested and more than 5,500 tons of drugs were destroyed.
According to him, the group has destroyed over 1,200 drug factories and has cleared 15,300 hectares of land from poppy cultivation.
Relations between the Taliban and the UN have soured in recent months after the UN rejected the group’s conditions for participation in a UN meeting of special envoys last month in Doha, Qatar.
The UN is now preparing for another meeting with an effort to ensure the participation of Taliban representatives.
