A UN assessment on the situation in Afghanistan with recommendations on how to deal with the challenges the country faces has reached a “sensitive” stage and is expected to be delivered to the United Nations Security Council next month, diplomatic sources privy to the matter told Amu.
Once the report by the Special Coordinator and Independent Assessor of the UN, Feridun Hadi Sinirlioğlu, has been delivered to the UNSC, a meeting will be convened to discuss the details, the sources added.
This meeting, which will be convened by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, will take place over the next few months, sources said adding Japan is one of the countries that has offered to host the forum.
In April this year, Guterres appointed Sinirlioğlu to lead an independent assessment to provide recommendations on how to address challenges faced by Afghanistan.
In a statement announcing his appointment as “Special Coordinator,” Sinirlioğlu was to lead the assessment with a view to providing “recommendations for an integrated and coherent approach,” the UN Secretary General’s statement noted at the time.
The UNSC’s member states referred to the assessment in a meeting on the situation of Afghanistan last month. Roz Otunbayeva told the Security Council on September 26 that she looked forward to a reframed engagement strategy from the Special Coordinator, which includes, among other elements, a sincere intra-Afghan dialogue of the sort that was interrupted when the Taliban took power in August 2021.
The doors to dialogue must remain open, she said. “Such an engagement would also require a more coordinated position of the international community. We look forward to the report of the Special Coordinator and his observations on this and other issues,” she said.
After being appointed as Special Coordinator, the UNSC tasked Sinirlioğlu to prepare a report on Afghanistan.
So far, Sinirlioğlu has held talks regarding Afghanistan with officials of various countries including foreign ministers of Iran, Pakistan and Turkey as well as most recently Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, Mohammad Bin Abdulrahamn Al-Thani.
The diplomatic sources told Amu that Sinirlioğlu will share his report with the UNSC on November 17, 2023, and that serious attention has been given to the plight of women and girls, as well as the dire economic situation affecting the people of Afghanistan.
Mohammad Sarwar Jafari, a political analyst, says the United Nations has not taken action against the recent developments in Afghanistan, particularly those involving human rights violations.
“Regarding human rights and obstacles and problems created for women inside Afghanistan, the UN has not had any impactive or practical program [to address the situation],” he said.
After the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the country was plunged head-first into severe crises – an economic crisis, a humanitarian crisis and one involving severe violations of human rights.
Saleem Paigeer, Hezbe-e-Mutahid Fikri Afghanistan, said that the [Taliban] failed to create a national or international consensus to address the problems of Afghanistan.
“[Taliban] has not been able to create a consensus inside or outside of Afghanistan, so that the meetings which are being held through the United Nations, solve the current problems of the people of Afghanistan,” he said.
It has been two-years since the Taliban came to power but no country has yet to recognize its government.
