UNSC to hold meeting on Afghanistan this month

KABUL: The UN Security Council (UNSC) has said that it will convene for its quarterly open briefing on Afghanistan in December, TOLO News reported. TOLO News is an Afghan news channel broadcasting from Kabul.

As per the UN statement, the special representative of the UN Secretary-General and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Roza Otunbayeva; Ambassador Jose de la Gasca (Ecuador), the Chair of the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee; and a representative of civil society are expected to brief. Head of the National Solidarity Movement of Afghanistan Sayed Ishaq Gailani said: "They should take fundamental action to benefit Afghanistan in the future, not to addict them (Taliban) with food assistance", as per TOLO News.

A political analyst Sayed Muqdam Amin said: "The meeting could be beneficial in case it brings a mechanism for stability in Afghanistan and recognition of Afghanistan and specifying the status of Afghanistan." This comes as the Taliban said that meetings without the presence of its envoys would be meaningless.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that the international community is trying to put political pressure on it. "Unfortunately, the world has politicised all humanitarian, climate change and economic issues and they want to use all of the issues as a political tool, which is not right," he said, as per TOLO News. In an earlier document accessed by TOLO News, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres recommended a roadmap for the reintegration of Afghanistan into the international community.