Even if it means displeasing, the UN advocates compromise to reintegrate into the international community an Afghan Taliban regime that has been hated and ostracized since its return to power on August 15, 2021. On June 30, at the head of a coalition of twenty -five countries, the United Nations will receive Islamist leaders in Doha, Qatar, to mark the opening of a new era of cooperation.
It is the culmination of nearly a year of diplomatic efforts and concessions, which ended up displeasing certain Western capitals, including Paris, Berlin and Washington. States of mind which did not prevent these same countries from establishing close relations, in secret, with the Taliban on the security level.
This reconciliation session was not won. It all begins, in Doha, on July 30 and 31, 2023, the same place where the Islamists and the United States signed the withdrawal agreement, on February 29, 2020, of American soldiers from Afghanistan.
“Not acceptable” conditions
The process begins after the brutal breakdown of dialogue between Americans and the Taliban at the end of 2022, after the announcement, by Afghan Islamists, of new measures excluding women from public space and access to knowledge. The dialogue resumes, but, after several meetings, it was the Taliban’s turn, in February, to break off the discussions to denounce the recommendations made, in November 2023, by the UN.
The international organization planned, in fact, to create a “special envoy for Afghanistan”. The idea is rejected by the Taliban, on the grounds that it would be an attack on their sovereignty, and that this role is already assumed by the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Manua), whose mandate was renewed, twice, in 2023 and 2024, by the Security Council. Likewise, they contest the invitation, by the UN, to Doha, of representatives of Afghan civil society, including certain movements defending women’s rights. Islamists believe that they should not be reduced to the rank of members of civil society. Finally, they want the UN Secretary General to attend, in person, the final meeting in Doha.
In a press release, the United Nations ensures, initially, that the conditions set by the Taliban “are not acceptable”. But, at the beginning of June, they nevertheless ended up accepting them in return for the return of Afghan Islamists to the discussion table. There will therefore be no “special envoy for Afghanistan”, nor any presence of civil society. On the other hand, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Gutteres, will not attend the event.
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