Russian envoy: Taliban recognition not on the table

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that international recognition of the Taliban was not currently under consideration.

Lavrov was speaking on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. His comments come after the Taliban nominated a U.N. envoy, setting up a showdown over Afghanistan’s seat at the world body.

“The question of international recognition of the Taliban at the present juncture is not on the table,” Lavrov told a news conference.

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Monday nominated the Islamist group’s Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s U.N. ambassador. The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan last month.

Ghulam Isaczai, the current U.N. ambassador who represents the Afghan government ousted by the Taliban, has also asked to renew his U.N. accreditation.

Russia is a member of a nine-member U.N credentials committee – along with China and the United States – which will deal with the competing claims on Afghanistan’s U.N. seat later this year.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that the Taliban’s desire for international recognition is the only leverage other countries have to press for inclusive government and respect for rights, particularly for women, in Afghanistan.

When the Taliban last ruled between 1996 and 2001 the ambassador of the Afghan government they toppled remained the U.N. representative after the credentials committee deferred its decision on rival claims to the seat.

US condemns amputations, executions as punishment for Taliban

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Friday that Washington condemns in the strongest terms reported comments by a Taliban official who said the group would restore the use of amputations and executions as punishment in Afghanistan.

Briefing reporters by phone, Price responded to Taliban leader Mullah Nooruddin Turabi’s comments to the Associated Press, saying the punishments “would constitute clear gross abuses of human rights.”

“We stand firm with the international community to hold perpetrators of these, of any such abuses, accountable,” Price said.

Washington has said any potential recognition of the new Taliban-led government in Kabul, which replaced the Western-backed government that collapsed last month, would depend on respect for human rights,

“We are watching very closely,” Price said, “and not just listening to the announcements that come out but watching very closely as the Taliban conducts itself.”

Myanmar will not address UN, but Afghanistan will

No representative from Myanmar is scheduled to address the annual high-level U.N. General Assembly, a U.N. spokesman said on Friday, amid rival claims for the country’s U.N. seat in New York after a military coup ousted the elected government.

Competing claims have also been made on Afghanistan’s U.N. seat after the Taliban seized power last month. The ambassador for the ousted government is set to give his speech on Monday.

“At this point, Myanmar is not speaking,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Myanmar’s current U.N. Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun – appointed by Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government – had initially been expected to address the 193-member General Assembly on Monday, the final day of the gathering.

But diplomats said China, Russia and the United States had reached an understanding, where Moscow and Beijing will not object to Kyaw Moe Tun remaining in Myanmar’s U.N. seat for the moment as long as he does not speak during the high-level meeting.

“I withdrew from the speaker list, and will not speak at this general debate,” Kyaw Moe Tun told Reuters, adding that he was aware of the understanding between some members of the U.N. credentials committee, which includes Russia, China and the United States.

Myanmar’s junta has put forward military veteran Aung Thurein to be its U.N. envoy, while Kyaw Moe Tun has asked to renew his U.N. accreditation, despite being the target of a plot to kill or injure him over his opposition to the February coup. 

Dujarric said that “for now, the Afghanistan representative inscribed on the list for Monday is Mr. Ghulam M. Isaczai.” Isaczai is the current U.N. ambassador, who represents Afghanistan’s government ousted by the Taliban.

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Monday asked to address the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations and nominated the Islamist group’s Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s U.N. ambassador. 

U.N. accreditation issues are dealt with by a nine-member committee, whose members include the United States, China and Russia. It traditionally meets in October or November so a decision would not be made in time that would allow Muttaqi to address the high-level General Assembly meeting this year.