UN Envoy to Afghanistan Must Be Able to Deliver, Indonesia Says
Jakarta. Indonesia agrees with the idea of the United Nations (UN) appointing a special envoy for Afghanistan to coordinate engagements with the Taliban to promote women's and human rights in the country.
However, whoever gets picked as the UN special envoy must be able to deliver, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi, while saying that the Taliban's opposition has become a major roadblock to the appointment.
Retno attended the UN-led meeting on Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar, on Monday local time. Indonesia became the only ASEAN member to attend the talks, which, according to Retno, brought together countries who were “active” in addressing Afghanistan matters.
“Indonesia agrees with the UN Secretary-General’s recommendations on appointing a UN special envoy to Afghanistan. But we need to make sure that the envoy can work and deliver,” Retno said in a press statement following the meeting.
“This can be very challenging considering that the Taliban opposes the appointment of that special envoy. We cannot appoint a special envoy who ends up not being able to do their job,” Retno said.
The Taliban has rejected the appointment, arguing that the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) already exists, according to broadcaster Voice of America.
In a separate press briefing, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres revealed that the intergovernmental organization was seeking consultations with the Taliban regarding the envoy.
“One of the things is that I believe we need to have clear consultations with the Taliban in order to have a clarification of the role of that envoy, of who can be that envoy, in order to make it attractive from the point of view of the Taliban. And I believe it's in the interest of the Taliban to do so. And that's why the consultations make full sense,” Guterres told the press on Monday.
The Taliban refused to attend the Doha meeting.
Late last year, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that called for the appointment of a special envoy for Afghanistan.
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