New York, August 30 – The UN Security Council said in a strongly worded resolution that it expects the Taliban to respect its commitments that include allowing any Afghans who want to leave their country to do so freely.
The 15-nation council said the Taliban committed in a statement on August 27 that any Afghans can travel “anytime they want to and may exit Afghanistan via any border crossing, both air and ground” and also from a “reopened and secure Kabul airport, with no one preventing them from traveling.”
The resolution said the council “expects that the Taliban will adhere to these and all other commitments, including regarding the safe, secure, and orderly departure from Afghanistan of Afghans and all foreign nationals.”
Two suicide bombing attacks on August 26 against a hotel in Kabul and near the Kabul airport killed more than 300 people and 28 military personnel, including 13 US soldiers. The Islamic State in Khorasan province claimed the attacks.
The resolution, which was initiated by France and the United Kingdom, was adopted to create a safe humanitarian passage for Afghans and foreigners to leave the country unhindered after August 31, the deadline set by the United States to end the evacuation of Afghans and US citizens through the Kabul airport, and US presence in Afghanistan.
China and Russia abstained when the council voted to adopt the document known as Resolution 2593. The United States, France and the United Kingdom and 10 other countries voted in favor of the resolution. The council is the highest political body in the UN systems.
The resolution condemned “in the strongest terms” the bomb attacks and demanded that “Afghan territory not be used to threaten or attack country or to shelter or train terrorists, or to plan or to finance terrorist acts.”
It called for strengthening efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and for unhindered access for the United Nations and its specialized agencies to carry out their work in the country.
The resolution reaffirmed the importance of upholding human rights, including those of women, children and minorities. It encourages all Afghan parties to seek an inclusive, negotiated political settlement “with the full, equal and meaningful participation of women.”
British Ambassador Barbara Woodward told reporters after the council meeting that the short resolution was in response to the bomb attacks and to highlight the situation in Afghanistan.
“We were all horrified by the bomb attack on Kabul airport, the suicide bomb attack, and send our condolences to the bereaved. This is a Security Council first response to that situation,” she said.
She said the resolution also “captured the key points on counterterrorism, humanitarian access, human rights and safe passage in particular.”
“But what really struck me from the discussions we had today in the Council and the discussions we’ve had in the four meetings leading up to today is the shared importance that we all attach to the stability and security of Afghanistan – that Afghanistan should not become a haven for terrorism and that it should not be in a position to disrupt its neighbors. So I think there’s a lot of shared ground for us to work from, although in this case, Russia and China abstained rather than voted for the resolution.”
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