The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Thursday welcomed some of the statements made by the UN in Afghanistan’s mission chief, who noted a number of positive changes in the country. 

On Wednesday, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva told the UN Security Council that bans affecting women and girls in the country were “obscuring” some of the other more positive achievements that have taken place under the IEA.

In a statement on Thursday, the IEA said Otunbayeva “made some efforts to reflect the complex ground realities of Afghanistan, unlike the recent report by the Monitoring Team of the Sanctions Committee and Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, which were both riddled with inaccuracies and heavily tilted to reflect political agendas of some actors.”

In addition, the IEA said: “We take note of the complexities of Afghanistan as highlighted in the statement, and reiterate that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan remains committed to international norms and obligations that do not contradict the principles of Islamic law, or contravene Afghanistan’s cultural norms or undermine our national interests. 

“We, therefore, urge all actors to respect the peremptory norm of non-interference and cease all attempts at meddling in our internal affairs, including the modalities and composition of our governance and laws,” the statement read.

The IEA said it welcomes “parts of the statement” by Otunbayeva such as “the effective ban on narcotics, macro-economic stability, elimination of corruption, access to education for girls in some spaces, collection of revenues, payment of salaries, significant improvement in security and concerted efforts against Daesh.” 

The IEA also stressed that the government of Afghanistan remains committed to establishing security, securing borders, preventing threat emanation, ensuring access to justice, combating trafficking and eliminating narcotics. 

“It is now up to the international community to also fulfill their responsibilities by observing the fundamental principle of non-interference, stopping other sides from threatening our national security, combatting all forms of trafficking and narcotics, and commitment of not interfering in our internal affairs,” the statement read.