The Taliban, who are in power in Afghanistan, will take part in the UN climate summit in Baku that starts on Monday, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced. Afghanistan has not participated in COP summits since the Taliban took power in Kabul.
Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi on Sunday said officials from the Afghan National Environmental Protection Agency had arrived in Azerbaijanto participate in the COP29 international climate summit. The Taliban took over the said agency when they returned to power after the withdrawal of the forces commanded by United States in 2021, recalled Reuters.
Taliban at the COP summit for the first time
Taliban officials participated in UN-organized meetings on the topic Afghanistan in Doha, and Taliban ministers have participated in international forums over the past two years in China and Central Asia. However, the office of the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change (UNFCCC) in 2021 postponed consideration of Afghanistan's participation in the COP summits, effectively excluding the country from further talks.
The COP29 international climate summit will last until November 22PAP/EPA/ANATOLY MALTSEV
COP29 host Azerbaijan, however, has invited Afghan National Environmental Protection Agency officials to this year's summit as observers, allowing them “to potentially participate in peripheral discussions and potential bilateral meetings,” a diplomatic source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Because the Taliban is not formally recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan within the UN system, officials there cannot receive credentials to participate in the deliberations of full member states.
COP29 in AzerbaijanPAP/EPA/IGOR KOVALENKO
“The future of an entire generation of Afghans is at risk.”
Since taking power in Afghanistan more than three years ago, the Taliban has closed schools and universities to women over the age of 12. They also announced more this year prohibitions under broad morality laws.
In August, UNESCO reported that at least 1.4 million Afghan girls have been intentionally deprived of access to education since August 2021. “The future of an entire generation of Afghans is at risk,” it was emphasized statement by the UN agency. According to UNESCO, the current authorities in Kabul have “almost wiped out” two decades of steady progress in access to education in Afghanistan. UNESCO predicts that this situation may lead to an increase in the number of child laborers and arranged marriages with minors.
Women on the street in Kabul Shutterstock
Afghanistan and climate change
On the eve of the opening of COP29, which will last from November 11 to 22, Reuters reminded that Afghanistan is among the countries most affected by climate change. “Flash floods have killed hundreds of people this yearat the same time, this heavily agriculturally dependent country experienced one of the worst droughts in decades. Many subsistence farmers, who make up a significant portion of the population, face worsening food insecurity.
Main photo source: PAP/EPA – Anatoly Maltsev