Security Council Urges the Taliban to Provide Safe Passage Out of Afghanistan
2021-08-31
News Department
The United Nations Security Council today adopted a resolution calling on the Taliban to provide safe passage for those who wish to leave Afghanistan, to allow humanitarian workers into the country, and to uphold human rights, including the human rights of women and children.
Thirteen of the Security Council's 15 members voted in favor of the resolution, which further demands that Afghanistan not be used as a haven for terrorism.
Among the permanent members, China and Russia abstained.
Condemning the Airport Attack
The Security Council resolution condemned in the strongest terms the deadly bombings that took place on Thursday at Kabul airport, which killed more than 150 people and injured more than 200. The terrorist organization “Islamic State – Khorasan” claimed responsibility.
The attack targeted people fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover two weeks earlier, as well as the international forces assisting the evacuation.
Tens of thousands of Afghans have been trying to flee the country before the complete withdrawal of troops by the Tuesday deadline announced by the United States.
United States: Living Up to Its Commitments
The resolution was put forward by the United States together with two other permanent members of the Security Council, France and the United Kingdom.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: “The Security Council expects the Taliban to live up to their commitment to provide safe passage for Afghans and foreign nationals who wish to leave Afghanistan, whether today, tomorrow, or after August 31.”
She said: “In keeping with the right to leave any country, including one's own, it is vital to us that everyone must be allowed to leave Afghanistan safely, for whatever reason, at whatever time, whether by air or by land.”
She said that since July the United States had evacuated more than 122,000 Americans, foreign nationals, and at-risk Afghan citizens. Thomas-Greenfield added that the resolution also reflected the Security Council's “very clear” commitment to assisting those who remain in Afghanistan.
She said: “The resolution emphasizes that all parties need to facilitate humanitarian assistance, and that humanitarian actors should be able to continue to deliver services to those in need in full safety and without hindrance.”
France: Help All Those Who Need Help
The resolution took note of the Taliban's statement this week allowing Afghans to leave the country at any time. France's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Nicolas de Rivière, called for this commitment to be maintained.
He said: “This resolution calls on everyone to make every effort to ensure the safety of the airport and the surrounding area.”
He said: “Establishing such safe passage and protection is a necessary condition to ensure that threatened Afghans who wish to leave can do so safely, and also a necessary condition to ensure that humanitarian aid can reach all those in need through the airport and, of course, through land borders as well.”
United Kingdom: Protecting the Rights Already Gained
On the question of human rights, the United Kingdom's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, stressed the need to protect the achievements made over the past 20 years, emphasizing that the rights of women, children, and minorities must be guaranteed.
She regarded the resolution as an important step toward a unified response by the international community to the situation in Afghanistan.
She said: “We will continue to build on this to ensure that the Security Council holds the Taliban accountable for their commitments. The international community will judge the Taliban by their actions on the ground, not by their words.”
Russia: Its Concerns Were Not Reflected
In explaining the reason for his country's abstention, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Nebenzia, said Russia was compelled to abstain because certain “concerns of principle” were not reflected in the draft text circulated on Friday.
He said: “First, although the resolution was put forward against the backdrop of a terrorist attack, the authors flatly refused to include paragraphs on the counter-terrorism struggle mentioning the internationally recognized terrorist organizations the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the East Turkistan Islamic Movement.”
He said: “We see this as an unwillingness to acknowledge the obvious, an attempt to divide terrorists into ‘ours’ and ‘theirs’—that is, to play down the terrorist threat posed by these organizations.”
China: Withdrawal Is Not the End of Responsibility, but the Beginning of Reflection and Correcting Mistakes
In his statement, China's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Geng Shuang, said that the recent turmoil in Afghanistan is directly related to the hasty and disorderly withdrawal of foreign troops. He hoped that the countries concerned could realize that withdrawal is not the end of responsibility, but the beginning of reflection and correcting mistakes.
Geng Shuang said that the countries concerned should learn their lesson, earnestly respect Afghanistan's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, earnestly respect the right of the Afghan people to independently decide their own future and destiny, earnestly change the erroneous practice of imposing their own model on others, and earnestly change the hegemonic behavior of readily resorting to pressure, sanctions, and even the use of force. The countries concerned should take responsibility for what they have done over the past 20 years, honor their commitments to the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan, and must not, while claiming to care about the well-being of the Afghan people, impose unilateral sanctions; must not, while claiming to support Afghanistan in accelerating its economic and social development, seize and freeze Afghanistan's overseas assets; and still less may they walk away after creating an enormous disaster in Afghanistan and shift the responsibility onto Afghanistan's neighboring countries and the Security Council. He said: what the foreign troops have done in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, including the criminal responsibility of the US and Australian militaries for the indiscriminate killing of civilians, must by no means be written off and must continue to be pursued.
Geng Shuang said that Afghanistan must never again become a birthplace of terrorism and a gathering place for terrorists; this is the bottom line that any future political settlement in Afghanistan must hold to. It is hoped that the Taliban will earnestly fulfill their commitments and completely sever ties with all terrorist organizations. All countries should, in accordance with international law and Security Council resolutions, resolutely combat international terrorist forces such as the “Islamic State,” “Al-Qaeda,” and the “ETIM,” and resolutely prevent them from gathering and creating trouble in Afghanistan. On the issue of counter-terrorism, there must never be double standards, nor may a selective approach be adopted.
Source: Pacific Rim Institute for Development and Education (P.R.I.D.E.)