The request made by the interim Afghan government, led by the Taliban, for a seat at the United Nations (UN) has been rejected for the third time by a 9-member UN credential committee. Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, they approached the UN, seeking a seat for their representative in New York. Suhail Shaheen, the former spokesperson for the Taliban political office in Doha, was designated as the permanent representative to the UN.
The committee, consisting of three permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia, China, and the United States), convened in New York on Tuesday and chose not to approve the Taliban’s nominee. The committee cited the interim government’s lack of international recognition as the reason for their decision. This setback hampers the Taliban’s efforts to gain global acceptance, ensuring that Nasir Amad Faiq, who was appointed by the previous Afghan government, will continue representing Afghanistan at the UN.
The UN emphasized that in order to gain recognition, the Taliban must fulfill their commitments to the international community, including upholding women’s rights, establishing an inclusive government, and adhering to their international obligations. A diplomatic source explained that the 9-member credential committee, which verifies and approves the accreditation of diplomats to the UN system, includes the US, Russia, and China as permanent members, with the US holding significant influence.
In cases where a government is overthrown, diplomats accredited to the UN maintain their diplomatic status and privileges unless they are replaced or their status is revoked. In the case of Afghanistan, the Taliban disowned Faiq, who claimed to represent the country at the UN. However, the committee has not made a decision regarding Faiq’s status, as the Taliban government lacks international recognition. Previously, Pakistan had shown interest in supporting the assignment of the Afghan Taliban representative to the UN seat. However, due to the current strained relationship between Islamabad and the Taliban, Pakistan no longer supports this policy. The source clarified that Pakistan would align with the international consensus, indicating that without global agreement, the Taliban regime will not receive recognition.
