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UN Seat for Ousted Afghan Regime to Prolong War: Taliban
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia Saturday warned that the civil war in the country would continue if the opposition Northern Alliance retains Afghanistan's seat at the United Nations.
"The United Nations, through its one-sided decision, will encourage (Mola Mohammad) Rabbani and his allies to continue the war in Afghanistan," Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Mulla Abdul Salam Zaeef said.
A senior Afghan opposition spokesman Abdullah said two days ago that a UN committee had decided that Afghanistan's seat at the international organization remains with the ousted government of Rabbani for another year.
"The so-called Rabbani regime has no qualification to represent the people of Afghanistan at the United Nations," Zaeef told a news conference here.
"They are a group of gunmen whose hands are still stained with the blood of the Afghan people," he alleged.
The Taliban, who control more than 90 percent of Afghanistan, has intensified its lobbying for the U.N. General Assembly seat this year, sending Deputy Foreign Minister Abdur Rahman Zahid to New York in September to try to persuade the United Nations to recognize the militia.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the only countries that recognize the Taliban government, which has imposed a rigid form of Islamic law in the territory it controls.
The Taliban hold the Afghan capital of Kabul and the United Nations has to deal directly with the militia over humanitarian issues and efforts to halt fighting in the war-torn country.
"The United Nations expects the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to handle all relevant issues as a legal and authorized government but gives recognition to the defunct regime of Rabbani. This contradicts the realities in Afghanistan," Zaeef said.
The ambassador said the Taliban expect the United Nations to be an encouraging factor for peace and rehabilitation in Afghanistan, not a factor for the continuation of war in the country.
"We expect the United Nations to realize the realities in Afghanistan and try to end the flaring up of war in Afghanistan, not to prolong it," he maintained.
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