A Taliban delegation headed by Abdul Salam Hanafi, Afghan Deputy Prime Minister (right) during the peace talks in Doha in 2020 (French)

Kabul

- In a surprising move, the Afghan government refused to participate in the new round of the Doha meeting on Afghanistan, which began today, Sunday, and will continue for two days, in the presence of representatives of 25 countries and others from Afghan civil society, and headed by United Nations Secretary-General Anthony Guterres.

This is the first international meeting that the Taliban movement refuses to attend after it came to power in August 2021. The Afghan Foreign Ministry, in a statement of which Al Jazeera Net obtained a copy, justified the absence of its delegation by saying, “We have achieved good progress in relations with the countries of the region, and we held organized discussions with... The United Nations and Western countries, especially the United States, through multiple channels.”

The Afghan government believed that the Doha meeting would provide an opportunity for clear and decisive discussions on controversial points, and that its decision to participate would be “if the United Nations agrees to consider the current Afghan government as the sole responsible body in the meeting.” As stated in its foreign ministry statement.

Ways of peaceful solution

Given the international reluctance to recognize the Afghan government formed by the Taliban movement after the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in 2021, it is believed that the United Nations can play a central role in alleviating the Afghan crisis and searching for ways of a peaceful solution in the country.

Former Afghan Interior Minister and professor at the US National Defense University, Ali Ahmed Jalali, told Al Jazeera Net that “the Taliban’s refusal to participate in the Doha meeting, which is being held under the supervision of the United Nations, would deepen its international isolation, and the recent position may weaken the regime’s credibility as a party to a political settlement with other parties.”

In Jalali's opinion, "the Taliban's denial increases the importance of appointing a special UN envoy to Afghanistan to lead diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving peace in the country."

For his part, the writer and political researcher Shafi’ Azam told Al Jazeera Net, “Foreign parties such as Russia, the United States, and the United Nations represent Afghanistan in international meetings, and the presence of Afghans in previous governments was merely formal. We have seen that the results of these meetings have complicated the Afghan scene, and we must We think differently, and we believe that the solution comes from within, and is not imported from abroad.”

Leaders of the Taliban movement during previous discussions in Doha with American negotiators (social networking sites)

International collusion

The current Afghan government views the United Nations as complicit with the international community, especially with the United States, in imposing international sanctions on it, and requests the United Nations to play the role of a neutral mediator, in addition to forming appropriate representatives for it in the Afghan file.

Former presidential advisor Tariq Farhadi told Al Jazeera Net, "The United Nations cannot solve the Afghan problem... and the role of the United Nations is no more than being a point of contact between Afghanistan and the international community, and we should not expect from it a magic solution to the Afghan problem."

But at the same time, he believes that "the Taliban's monopoly of power in light of the deteriorating living conditions means that they are thinking about their future, and are not thinking about isolating Afghanistan and starving the people, while they must work to obtain international recognition and lift sanctions." 

The name of the United Nations has been associated with the Afghan file since the 1980s, and for decades the representative of the Secretary-General has frequented Afghanistan to mediate between the parties to the conflict and discuss ways of peace and stability in the country.

The current Afghan government calls on the United Nations to play the role of neutral mediator in Afghanistan (Reuters)

Representatives of Afghanistan

To date, the United Nations has appointed 6 representatives, and will announce the seventh in the current round of the Doha meeting. The representatives appointed for Afghanistan are as follows:

  • Javier Perez de Cuellar

On February 27, 1979, he was appointed Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for Special Political Affairs, and from April 1981 he served as Representative for Afghanistan Affairs, and visited alongside Pakistan to continue the negotiations that the Secretary-General had begun a few months earlier.

Javier Pérez de Cuellar, former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan (Reuters)

  • Diego Cor Doves

As Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Doves negotiated the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in the 1980s, enabled the role of the United Nations, and met with the heads of the Afghan, Pakistani, and Iranian governments.

He is considered the architect of the Geneva Agreement, which paved the way for the withdrawal of former Soviet forces from Afghanistan. After 41 rounds of negotiations over 6 years, representatives of the Soviet Union, the United States, Pakistan, and Afghanistan signed the agreement that provided a framework for the departure of Soviet forces on April 14, 1988. Although this process did not lead to peace in Afghanistan, conflicts continued.

Diego Cor Doves, Special Representative of the Secretary to Afghanistan in the 1980s (American press)

  • Binyan Siwan

He was the senior advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General on Afghanistan, and headed the United Nations ceasefire mission in 1993. He proposed forming a temporary government that included communists, mujahideen, and independents at the time, but his efforts were not crowned with success, and he resigned from his position.

  • Mahmoud Al-Mestiri

He was appointed head of the committee to investigate and prepare the report on the Afghan crisis and peace negotiations. He prepared his plans for forming a government and negotiations between the parties to the conflict in Afghanistan, but they were not accepted by the armed groups, and he submitted his resignation in May 1996.

Mahmoud Al-Mustairi, Chairman of the Investigation Committee on the Afghan Crisis and Peace Negotiations 1996 (Communication Sites)

  • Norbert Hall

He assumed leadership of the Afghan peace process, but later considered that peace there was unlikely and submitted his resignation.

Norbert Hall served as head of the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan from 1996 to 1997 (communication sites)

  • Al-Akhdar Al-Ibrahimi

He was appointed as Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Afghanistan in 1997, and his work focused on three directions:

  •  Evaluating the demands of the conflicting parties, he visited Kandahar several times and negotiated with the founder of the Taliban, Mullah Muhammad Omar, and the leaders of the Northern Alliance.

  •  Organizing negotiations between conflicting parties.

  •  Proposing to end foreign interference and stop sending weapons to Afghanistan.

    • Al-Ibrahimi resigned in 1999, and explained that the reason for his resignation was “the interference of neighboring countries, and that sending weapons to the warring parties is the reason for instability in Afghanistan and the region.” He was re-elected in 2001 as Special Representative of the Secretary-General.

    Lakhdar Brahimi: Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Afghanistan 1997 (Reuters)

    After two decades of this series, Afghanistan once again needs to appoint a special representative, but his success depends on the cooperation of the three parties: the Taliban, its opponents, and the countries concerned with the Afghan issue.

    Writer and political researcher Yama Barz told Al Jazeera Net, "What distinguishes the appointment of the representative this time is that the plan exists, which is the Doha Agreement, and the new representative will try to implement it to bring peace to Afghanistan, and the United States and the Taliban must commit to implementing it completely, so that peace prevails in the country."

    Source: Al Jazeera