(United Nations) The Afghan ambassador to the UN, Ghulam Isaczai, appointed by ousted President Ashraf Ghani and who had been dismissed from his post by the Taliban, “left his post,” the Organization announced on Thursday.
“A letter dated December 15, addressed to the Secretary General (Antonio Guterres) and signed by Ambassador Ghulam Isaczai […] was received on December 16, ”deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told AFP. “The letter indicates that Ambassador Isaczai left his post on December 15, 2021” and identifies a member of the diplomatic mission as charge d’affaires ad interim, he added without specifying his name.
No comments could be obtained from the Afghan mission to the UN. According to diplomats, while Afghanistan is in financial and economic crisis, this mission has been facing serious difficulties for several months in order to survive.
A few weeks ago, Ghulam Isaczai took part in a meeting of the UN Security Council during which he openly criticized the Taliban. On September 14, he formally asked the UN to remain as Ambassador of Afghanistan.
In early December, however, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution postponing indefinitely any decision for its session extending from September 2021 to September 2022 on who represents Afghanistan, ruled since mid-August by the Taliban.
According to the President of the General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, no meeting of the UN accreditation committee responsible for deciding on the candidacies of ambassadors proposed by the member countries of the Organization is not planned in the short or medium term. in the case of Afghanistan as in that of Burma, where two accreditation requests are in competition.
In September, the Taliban asked the UN to accredit Suhail Shaheen, a former spokesperson for the movement, as the new Afghan ambassador to replace Ghulam Isaczai.
The Taliban criticized the lack of a UN decision, judging that the UN, with this attitude, “ignores the legitimate rights of the Afghan people”. For them, “it’s as if US President Joe Biden had Donald Trump as ambassador to the UN,” said a UN official on condition of anonymity.
When they first ruled the country, between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban did not have an ambassador to the UN.