United Nations, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United Nations Ghulam Isaczai, who was set to address world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Monday, has withdrawn his name from the list of speakers.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Isaczai, who represents the ousted government of Ashraf Ghani at the UN, withdrew his name from the list of speakers for the debates over the weekend.
The development came as the Credentials Committee of the UN has yet to deliberate formally on the credentials applications submitted by Myanmar’s junta and the Taliban, who are now controlling Afghanistan.
On September 20, the Taliban had requested to address the UN General Assembly and named their Doha-based spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen, as Afghanistan's UN ambassador.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres received a communication from the Taliban with the letterhead “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” signed by “Ameer Khan Muttaqi” as “Minister of Foreign Affairs,” requesting to participate in the UN gathering of world leaders.
Muttaqi said in the letter that former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani was “ousted” as of August 15 and that countries across the world “no longer recognise him as president,” and therefore the currently accredited Afghan Ambassador, Ghulam Isaczai, no longer represents Afghanistan, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
The Taliban said it was nominating a new UN permanent representative, Mohammad Suhail Shaheen.
In cases of disputes over seats at the United Nations, the General Assembly’s nine-member Credentials Committee meets to take a decision.
Both letters had been sent to the committee.
Afghanistan was scheduled to give the last speech on the final day of the high-level meeting on September 27. No one from Myanmar too spoke at the UNGA.