Taliban write to UN chief nominating spokesman Shaheen as Afghan envoy,ask for participation at UNGA
United Nations (PTI): The Taliban have written to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres nominating their spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan's new ambassador to the UN and have asked to participate and speak in the high-level 76th session of the General Assembly currently underway here.
The nomination sets up a confrontation between the Taliban and Afghanistan's fallen government envoy, Gram Isakuzai, who has held his post so far.
The Taliban swept across the country last month, seizing control of almost all key towns and cities in the backdrop of withdrawal of the US forces that began on May 1. On August 15, the capital city of Kabul fell to the insurgents.
The Taliban claimed victory over opposition forces in the last holdout province of Panjshir on September 6, completing their takeover of Afghanistan three weeks after capturing Kabul.
On September 20, on the eve of the commencement of the high-level UN General Debate, the Secretary-General received a communication with the letterhead Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated September 20, 2021, signed by Ameer Khan Muttaqi as Minister of Foreign Affairs .
In the letter, the Taliban requested to participate in the 76th session of the UN General Assembly on September 21-27."
Farhan Haq, the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told PTI that the letter also indicates that as of August 15, 2021, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani is ousted and (countries across the world) no longer recognise him as president .
Ghani, who had fled the country as the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15, had appointed Isaczai as Kabul's envoy to the UN in June 2021.
The Taliban letter further indicates that the mission of the Permanent Representative is considered over and that Isaczai no longer represents Afghanistan.
The Taliban have nominated the Doha-based spokesman Shaheen as Afghanistan's new Permanent Representative to the UN.
"A new Permanent Representative, Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, is nominated," according to the Taliban letter.
Haq said that on September 15, the Secretary-General had received a communication from the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United Nations signed by Ambassador Isaczai, containing the list of delegation of Afghanistan for the 76th session of the General Assembly.
Isaczai is listed as the head of the delegation.
The New York Times said in a report that Muttaqi wanted to speak at the General Assembly session.
These two communications have been sent by the UN Secretariat, after consultation with the Office of the President of the General Assembly, to the members of the Credentials Committee of the 76th session of the General Assembly, Haq added.
The Credentials Committee will decide on who represents Kabul at the UN and the two communications have set the stage for a showdown over who sits at Afghanistan's seat in the 193-member world organisation.
The Credentials Committee, appointed at the beginning of each regular session of the General Assembly, consists of nine members, who are appointed by the General Assembly on the proposal of the President.
The Committee is currently chaired by Sweden and includes the US, China, Russia, Bahamas, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Bhutan and Chile.
The Committee normally meets in November and no meeting of the Credentials Committee is currently scheduled, making it unlikely that a decision on the Taliban nominee will be taken before the end of the week-long General Debate.
As per the provisional list of speakers released by the UN, Afghanistan is listed as the last speaker on the last day of the General Debate on September 27. As of now, the Afghan diplomat Isaczai is listed as the speaker for Kabul.
The Committee reports to the Assembly on the credentials of representatives of the UN Member States.
As per the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly, the credentials of representatives and the names of members of a delegation shall be submitted to the Secretary-General if possible not less than one week before the opening of the session.
The credentials shall be issued either by the Head of the State or Government or by the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The Committee shall examine the credentials of representatives and report without delay.
As per the rules, "any representative to whose admission a member has objected shall be seated provisionally with the same rights as other representatives until the Credentials Committee has reported and the General Assembly has given its decision".
This means the current Afghan envoy Iscazai and Myanmar's Ambassador at UN Kyaw Moe Tun can continue to speak and participate in the UNGA until the matter is decided.
Following the coup in Myanmar, its military rulers have said the country's Ambassador at UN Kyaw Moe Tun has been dismissed and they want Aung Thurein to replace him.
Isaczai has continued to represent Afghanistan at the UN in the days after the Taliban's takeover of Kabul in August.
During the opening of the UN General Debate Tuesday, as US President Joe Biden addressed world leaders from the General Assembly podium, Isaczai sat in Afghanistan's seat in the UNGA Hall.
Isaczai had also participated in the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan in August, held under India's Presidency of the 15-nation body.
Earlier this month, Isaczai had spoken in the General Assembly hall at the high-level forum on Culture of Peace, saying that the government announced by the Taliban is anything but inclusive.
Last week, President of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid was asked about the situation in Afghanistan and Myanmar and by when would the Credentials Committee meet to decide who represents the two nations at the world body.
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Congress not just removed clothes at AI Summit but exposed its intellectual bankruptcy: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Congress for the shirtless protest by its youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit recently, saying the opposition party can tear as many clothes as it wants, but his government will continue to work for the country's progress.
Addressing the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Modi also said that the Congress did not just remove its clothes in front of foreign guests but also exposed its intellectual bankruptcy, asserting that the millennials have already taught the country's oldest party a lesson, and now Gen-Z is ready to do the same.
In an apparent jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said the opposition was unhappy seeing the statue of "Babbar Shers" (lions) installed atop the new Parliament building, but their own “Babbar Shers" were running away after facing the "shoes" of the general public.
Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said on February 24 that he was proud of the "Babbar Shers" of the Indian Youth Congress, who "fearlessly" raised their voice at the AI Summit.
"Congress ke Babbar Sher logon ki jute kha ke bhaag gaye (The 'lions' of Congress ran away after being hit by shoes by the public)," Modi said.
The prime minister was apparently referring to the protesting Youth Congress workers being heckled by some people at the AI Summit.
On February 20, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest inside Hall No. 5 of the summit venue in Delhi by removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts printed with anti-government slogans, triggering a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.
“Congress can tear as many clothes as it wants, but we will continue to work for India's development. Congress not just shed clothes at the AI Summit, it also exposed its incapabilities in front of foreign guests,” Modi said in his nearly 45-minute speech.
He said the AI Summit was a moment of pride for the entire nation, but unfortunately, Congress attempted to tarnish this national celebration.
"When the frustration and despair of failure weigh on the mind, and arrogance makes one's head spin, such a mindset emerges to defame the country," he said.
The prime minister also alleged that the Congress always takes refuge in Mahatma Gandhi to hide its failures, but tries to give credit to one family for anything good.
"People of our country welcomed every good step taken by our government, but the Congress only knows how to oppose everything. The votes of Congress are not stolen; rather, people do not consider Congress worthy of their votes. Millennials first taught a lesson to Congress, now Gen-Z is ready to do the same," he said.
Modi also said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition is not just about blindly opposing every move of the government, but presenting an alternative vision, and that is why the "enlightened public" of the country is "teaching a lesson" to Congress now.
In 1984, the Congress got 39 per cent of the votes and more than 400 seats. But its votes declined consistently in the subsequent elections, Modi said.
"Today, the condition of the Congress is such that it has more than 50 MLAs in just four states. Over the past 40 years, the number of young voters in the country has increased, but the Congress has clearly diminished," Modi said.
On the recent trade deals that India signed with foreign countries, Modi said the country has discovered its inherent strength and strengthened its institutions, which prompted developed nations to come forward and sign deals with India.
He also said that even after Independence, some people ensured that the colonial mindset remained for their own benefits.
"No country would have done trade deals with us had we not discovered our inherent strength and strengthened our institutions. Because of this, developed nations have come forward to sign trade deals (with India)," he said.
Modi also said that even after Independence, India was unable to break free from the mentality of slavery, for which the country is still paying the price.
"The latest example of this can be seen in the ongoing discussions on trade deals. Some people are shocked – ‘what has happened, how did this happen? Why are developed countries so eager to do trade deals with India?’ The answer is – a confident India is emerging from despair and frustration," he said.
Over the long span of history, centuries of slavery had instilled a feeling of inferiority, while the ideology imported from other countries deeply ingrained in society the notion that Indians were uneducated and subservient, the prime minister said.
"If the country was still mired in the despair of the pre-2014 era, counted among the 'Fragile Five', and gripped by policy paralysis, who would strike a trade deal with us?
"Over the past 11 years, a new surge of energy has flowed into the nation's consciousness. India is now striving to reclaim its lost potential," Modi said.
The prime minister also said that due to the recent series of reforms initiated by his government, the world's most powerful nations are now coming forward to sign trade deals with India.
"There was a time when India was only a consumer of new technology. But now we are not just developing them, but also setting standards," he said.
The prime minister also said that India's digital public infrastructure has become a subject of global discussion today, and every move India makes is closely watched and analysed across the world.
"The AI Summit was a clear example of this," he said.
The government's 'Viksit Bharat by 2047' is not a political slogan but an effort to correct the mistakes of the previous Congress governments by making India self-reliant, he said.
“So far, in every industrial revolution, India and the Global South largely remained followers, but in this age of artificial intelligence (AI), India is not only participating but is also shaping it. India now has its own AI startup ecosystem,” Modi said.
He also said the world is astonished that India, where around 30 million families lived in darkness until 2014, has now risen to become one of the top countries in solar power capacity.
India, where many cities had no hope of improving their public transport system, has now become the country with the world's third-largest Metro network, Modi said.
“The Indian Railways was known only for chronic delays and sluggish speeds, yet semi-high-speed connectivity like Vande Bharat and Namo Bharat has now become possible,” he said.
Nation-building never happens through short-term thinking; it is shaped by a long-term vision, patience and timely decisions, the prime minister added.
