U.N. Security Council urges Taliban to stick to promises
Source: Washington Post
The United Nations Security Council approved a resolution on Monday to urge the Taliban to follow through on promises to allow Afghans to depart the country when they choose, calling on the militants to permit humanitarian activities and prevent extremists from launching attacks.Thirteen nations, including France, the United Kingdom and the United States, voted in favor of the resolution, which also condemned last week’s deadly bombing at the Kabul airport and highlighted the need for a negotiated political settlement that would respect the rights of all Afghans.
China and Russia abstained, criticizing the West’s handling of its exit from Afghanistan after a two-decade military effort.“By adopting this resolution, the Security Council has shown that the world expects the Taliban to live up to these promises today, tomorrow and after August 31st,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters after the vote. “This is of the utmost importance to us.” Thomas-Greenfield said the United Nations was disappointed by the abstentions by Moscow and Beijing.
During the meeting, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he abstained because the resolution did not include a passage of the fight against organizations including the Islamic State and the Uzbekistan Islamic movement. Nebenzia said such an omission underplayed those groups’ threats. Nebenzia also underscored the “negative impact” the evacuations had on Afghanistan’s economy. “With this brain drain, the country will not be able to achieve its sustainable development goals,” he said.
Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said that the resolution would intensify tensions in Afghanistan and that the international community should respect the nation’s sovereignty and “right to determine their own future.” Jun criticized the “hasty and chaotic” withdrawal of U.S. troops and said countries that were present in Afghanistan “should be responsible for what they have done in the past 20 years.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/30/afghanistan-kabul-taliban-live-updates/#link-V47MRHWFE5C3JA3GQZGCMHMYEQ
= new reply since forum marked as read
