AFGHANISTAN-UN: Taliban Fights for UN Recognition

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 1 1997 (IPS) - Afghanistan’s Taliban militias control nearly 90 percent of their mountainous nation but continue to be frustrated the one prize that eludes them: recognition by all members of the United Nations.

Only three countries – Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have recognised the Islamic force’s claim to be the government of Afghanisation – even though the Taliban swept into Kabul one year ago. The ousted administration of the last president, Berhanuddin Rabbani, is still represented as the legitimate Afghan government at the United Nations.

“The Rabbani regime doesn’t have the support of the people of Afghanistan,” argues Abdul Hakeem Mujahid, a Taliban diplomat whom the militia has named as its ambassador-designate to the United Nations. “We strongly protest the (U.N.) representation of Afghanistan by the personal representatives of Rabbani…Nobody even knows where he is in Afghanistan.”

Since its rise two years ago as a student-led Islamist force, Taliban – largely comprised of ethnic Pathans – succeeded in wiping out the Tajik leader Rabbani’s forces from central Afghanistan, limiting them to a few northern bases held by Gen. Ahmed Shah Masoud. More than 80,000 Taliban soldiers also are fighting for control of the major northern town of Mazar-e-Sharif, stronghold of Uzbek Gen. Abdul Malik, and Taliban sources are confident that it will fall within the next few days.

For all the land they hold, however, Taliban is still not taken seriously as the Afghan government. One senior U.N. official this summer dismissed the militia’s claim to be a government by asking simply, “So, how many governments recognise them? Three?”

Nor is Mujahid immediately likely to assume the post of Afghanistan’s U.N. ambassador. The nine-nation U.N. credentials committee is unlikely to call for any change in Afghanistan’s diplomatic representation here while European nations are citing concerns about the Islamists’ poor human rights record and restrictions on womens’ rights.

Several key countries on the credentials committee, including Norway and Russia, oppose conferring the seat to Taliban. The Islamists are not hopeful that the committee will either vacate the U.N. seat or confer it to their candidate, acknowledged Taliban spokeswoman Laili Helms.

Taliban control of Kabul has brought with it greater international scrutiny of the Islamic movement’s restrictions, which include a strict, all-concealing dress code for women, reported crackdowns on the nations Shi’a Muslims and bans on everything from paper bags to the flying of kites.

Rights groups contend that many women and ethnic minorities who defy the bans have been executed. (Mujahid admitted that Taliban allows executions for many offenses under its Islamic Shari’a laws but said the regulations helped to curb crime.)

Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, attributed such regulations to the youth and militancy of Taliban, and argued in favour of a “more moderate interpretation of Islam” that could be “compatible with the role and human rights of women.”

Mujahid disputed accounts of Taliban’s poor rights record, claiming that women “are living free in Afghanistan, without any problems.” He labelled as false reports that Taliban is denying women education and job rights, and cited a report by the Swedish non-governmental organisation (NGO) ‘Committee’ that estimated that the Taliban-held zones operate 422 schools for boys, 125 for girls and more than 800 which are mixed-gender.

In rural areas, women’s education and freedom of movement – although not dress – have improved under Taliban rule, Helms declared, although she added that most foreign reporters are based in Kabul and did not see those changes. Even in Kabul, she argued, Taliban was moving to rebuild girls’ schools after receiving a donation from the government of Norway.

Helms said that arguments about womens’ rights were a smokescreen for governments’ strategic concerns in opposing Taliban.

“The whole thing is about the (gas) pipeline,” she said. “It has nothing to do with human rights, women’s rights…(Other countries) never made a peep when women were being killed” during fighting by Rabbani’s forces and those of former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Oil and gas politics remain the backdrop of Afghanistan’s turmoil, Mujahid said.

Iran opposes Taliban because it wants the main oil and gas pipelines to pass through its borders, he contended. A unified Afghanistan under Taliban control would allow foreign companies to place lines there that would connect gas deposits from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the Pakistani coast.

Some major companies, notably the U.S.-based Union Oil of California (UNOCAL), are still bidding for a gas pipeline through Afghanistan, despite the embarrassing reports of Taliban atrocities. Helms said UNOCAL remains “very persistent” and has been training foreign workers knowledgeable about Afghanistan to work on a future pipeline project.

Those projects remain up in the air as long as Taliban is an international pariah.

The U.N. Security Council issued a warning to Taliban Tuesday following the brief detention a day earlier of a humanitarian delegation led by European Union Commissioner Emma Bonino. U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson said the Council wants “concrete steps by all parties to guarantee the safety of all international personnel” to avoid future detentions.

Even so, the reality of Taliban’s increasing control over Afghanistan is sinking in at the United Nations. Lakhdar Brahimi, a U.N. envoy who reported here this week on his recent trip to Afghanistan, cited information that Mazar-e-Sharif may soon fall under Taliban control. Mujahid responded to Brahimi’s visit by asserting that Taliban would seek a cease-fire to end Afghanistan’s 18-year war, as well as prisoner exchanges and weapons collection.

“Please leave us to establish a central government in Afghanistan,” Mujahid asked of other nations. But the would-be ambassador acknowledged that oil and gas interests may decide whether that request will be heeded.