The UN has decided not to recognize, for now, the envoys put forward by Taliban militants in Afghanistan and the military junta in Myanmar. Both governments argued that their current ambassadors don’t represent them.
The nine-nation Credentials Committee of the UN General Assembly, which is responsible for approving the diplomatic representation of each member state, held a closed-door meeting on Wednesday to discuss the Taliban and junta’s bids to send new envoys to the organization.
“The committee has decided to defer its decision of the credentials in these two situations,” Anna Karin Enestrom, Sweden’s ambassador and the committee’s chairwoman, told reporters after the meeting.
The Credentials Committee currently consists of Cameroon, China, Iceland, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, Tanzania, United States and Uruguay.
The deferral likely means that the Taliban government and the junta in Myanmar will not have a voice in the UN until the issue is brought before the next General Assembly session in September 2022. The UN also allowed Ghulam Isaczai and Kyaw Moe Tun to continue serving in New York as envoys of Afghanistan and Myanmar respectively, despite the fact that their governments were overthrown.
“This decision does not reflect the reality on the ground and existence of our country,” Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for the military government in Myanmar, told AFP on Thursday.
In September, the Taliban sent a letter to the UN, arguing that Isaczai no longer represented Afghanistan.
The army seized power in Myanmar in February, detaining President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, who were later charged with election fraud.
Taliban militants overran Afghanistan in August, capturing its capital, Kabul, and forcing President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country. The Islamist group’s sweeping offensive coincided with the final stage of the withdrawal of Western forces.
