UN Special Envoy Afghanistan Questioned on friday TalibanThe promise of a political solution tells the UN Security Council that the war has entered a “more deadly and destructive phase”, with more than 1,000 civilians killed in an offensive by the Taliban in the past month.
“The party that is truly committed to a negotiated settlement will not risk so many civilian casualties because it understands that the reconciliation process will be more challenging and bleed more,” Deborah Lyons said.
With the withdrawal of foreign troops after 20 years of war, the Taliban have stepped up their efforts to defeat the US-backed government since April. The Taliban occupied the Afghan provincial capital in Kabul on Friday and assassinated the top government media official.
“Now this is a different kind of war, reminiscent of the recent Syria, or Sarajevo in the not-too-distant past,” Lyon said.
“Attacks in urban areas are deliberately causing great harm and causing a large number of civilian casualties. Nevertheless, the threat to large urban areas seems to be a strategic decision by the Taliban, and they have accepted the possible massacre,” she said.
She said that the United Nations expects the number of irregular and legal immigrants to double this year.
The Afghan government and Taliban negotiators started peace talks in Doha, the capital of Qatar, but did not make any substantial progress.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, told the Security Council that the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan is becoming more and more worrying. “With the withdrawal of foreign troops, the prospects look grim.”
“Unfortunately, the prospect of Afghanistan falling into a full and protracted civil war is a grim reality,” Nebenzia said.
The United Nations must show that “there will be consequences”: Britain
Barbara Woodward, the British ambassador to the United Nations, stated that the committee “should leave the Taliban without a doubt, and if they continue to carry out this kind of military offensive, it will have consequences for them”, and promised that Britain will not admit to coming to power by force. Taliban government.
The UN Security Council is capable of imposing targeted sanctions on Taliban individuals or entities that threaten the peace, stability and security of Afghanistan.
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Senior American diplomat Jeffrey Laurentiis urged the Taliban to stop the offensive, seek a political solution and protect Afghanistan’s infrastructure and people.
“The Taliban must learn from the international community that we will not accept the military takeover of Afghanistan or the return of the Taliban Islamic Emirate,” he said.
The goal of foreign troops is to completely withdraw from Afghanistan by September 11. The U.S.-backed Afghan army ousted the Taliban in 2001 because the Taliban refused to hand over Al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden after attacking the United States on September 11, 2001.
Dai Bing, China’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said that foreign troops withdrawn from Afghanistan should “be more transparent to regional countries and avoid leaving all issues behind and washing their hands”.
“The United States recently expressed its intention to assist Afghanistan in maintaining stability. It is hoped that the United States will earnestly fulfill its commitments and step up its efforts.”
Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ghulam Isakzai, urged the Security Council to take action to “prevent a catastrophic situation”. He told reporters after the meeting that he believes that the Afghan army can withstand the Taliban attack and that the country has not yet entered a civil war.
“We have a six-month security plan to stabilize the situation. Not only that, we also see a lot of support from communities and villages recently attacked by the Taliban… Therefore, we are very interested in the people who support the army,” he said .
