International community 'running out of patience' with Taliban, says UN

UPDATE DAY

The international community is “running out of patience” with the attitude of the Taliban, launched a UN official during a meeting of the Security Council which considered the situation in Afghanistan . 

“I fear that many in the international community are running out of patience regarding the strategy of engaging with the Taliban authorities,” said UN Deputy Representative Markus Potzel in Afghanistan.

“There have been some positive developments in recent months, but they have been too few and too slow, and do not outweigh the negatives,” he added.< /p>

“The Taliban's response remains ambiguous as to the extent to which they wish to have contacts with the outside, in the absence of formal recognition and on the condition of being in agreement with their interpretation of Sharia”, notes for his part, the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres in his quarterly report published on Tuesday on this occasion.

He believes in particular that the announcement in August by the United States of the death by drone strike in Kabul of the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, “highlighted the continuing links between the terrorist group and the Taliban, which would contradict the commitments made by the latter in the fight against terrorism”.

The report also denounces the “severe restrictions” still imposed on the rights of women and girls, in particular the prohibition of secondary education.

In a joint statement focusing on girls' education, the ten non-permanent members of the Security Council and the five countries that will take up a seat on the Council next year called on the Taliban to “reverse this decision immediately”. 

“The international community has not forgotten and will not forget Afghan women and girls,” they insisted.

“We have worked hard to have a declaration of the whole Council, but we did not succeed”, noted Norwegian ambassador Mona Juul to the press, thus suggesting the opposition of at least one of the permanent members who hold a right of veto.&nbsp ;

According to a diplomatic source, China and Russia opposed a joint statement that would not also include a request to release Afghan assets frozen since the return of the Taliban to power. < /p>

During the meeting, Chinese Ambassador Geng Shuang, stressing the need to ensure the girls' rights, said that “assets frozen abroad should be used quickly to improve the lives of Afghans and rebuild the economy”.