UN envoy to Afghanistan criticizes Taliban’s intense military campaign

The military campaign “will lead to increased and prolonged violence that would extend the suffering of the Afghan people and threaten to destroy much of what has been built and hard-won in the last two decades,” Deborah said in a briefing to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.

The continued military approach would be a “tragic course of action”, she said.

The ground reality in Afghanistan runs counter to the statements issued by the Taliban’s political commission, she informed the UNSC.

“This military campaign runs directly counter to recent statements by the head of the Taliban’s Political Commission that, and I quote, ‘We are committed to forging ahead with the other sides in an atmosphere of mutual respect and reach an agreement,’” she was quoted as saying by Afghanistan’s TOLOnews.

The insurgent group, she warned, is positioning themselves around provincial capitals in Afghanistan. The Taliban has been capturing districts surrounding provincial centers, she informed the UNSC.

Any effort to install the government by force, she said, would go “against the will of the Afghan people, and against the stated positions of the regional countries and the broader international community.”

Referring to the targeted attacks on Hazara minorities, a Persian-speaking Shia Muslim community, she said these attacks are a “terrible reminder” of how overall conflict is being used to target certain groups.