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Russia calls Doha meeting on Afghanistan a ‘failure’
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday that the two-day UN-sponsored meeting on Afghanistan in Qatar had been a “failure.”
“The delegation of the Afghan government refused to participate due to the humiliating conditions associated with the fact that it was allowed only to minor events involving fugitive emissaries of the so-called Afghan civil society,” Zakharova said.
Zakharova also said no decision was made on the previously announced plans by the UN to establish a post for a special envoy and a “small contact group” for Afghanistan, adding that such issues were included on the agenda without proper elaboration, Anadolu Agency reported.
“Any initiative, be it the establishment of a new post or format, is doomed to failure without the support of Kabul and regional states,” Zakharova said.
She also said that her country’s delegation held multiple talks on the sidelines of the event, including a meeting between Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan, during which they affirmed solidarity toward “strengthening regional cooperation and the leading role of the countries of the region in global efforts” regarding Afghanistan.
“It was noted that the accession of ‘extra-regionals’ is possible only on the condition that the US and NATO take primary responsibility for the current state of affairs in Afghanistan and the post-conflict reconstruction of this country, return blocked assets to Kabul and lift restrictions on banking transactions,” she concluded.
Abdulmanan Omari, Afghanistan’s acting minister of labor and social affairs, will attend this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia, the ministry said in a statement.
According to the statement, Omari left for Russia on Wednesday morning. This trip follows close on the heels of Omari’s visit to Qatar.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum gets underway on Wednesday and will continue through to Saturday, 8 June.
The 27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) theme this year is “The Foundations of a Multipolar World – The Formation of New Areas of Growth.”
As usual, Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to address the forum’s plenary session.
The United Nations top humanitarian official, Martin Griffiths, who is stepping down from his post at the end of June, said on Tuesday at a briefing that he was leaving the job “with a sense of work unfulfilled because the world is a worse place now than when I joined up in 2021.”
Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and head of OCHA (the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) said Tuesday the Islamic Emirate has not fulfilled its obligations over human rights.
Speaking at a briefing Griffiths said the Islamic Emirate, after regaining control of Afghanistan, made commitments to the international community regarding the provision of human rights, especially women’s rights.
“I had spent a lifetime working in Afghanistan in one way or another. And we had some hopes then, we had indeed some written commitments then as to how we would be able to go forward with the Taliban (Islamic Emirate) – and those hopes have been dashed,” he said.
“The edicts against women and girls have come one after the other, and the degree to which and the issues upon which the international community engages with the Taliban (Islamic Emirate) on behalf of the people of Afghanistan is still a conversation,” he added.
He went on to say however that this issue was superseded by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Then, just months later, focus shifted to Gaza and Sudan. He noted that the UN’s attention is now on “big crises” – Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, but that Syria, Yemen, and Haiti “are places still of great suffering”.
Griffiths was appointed Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator in May 2021.He will step down at the end of June for health reasons.
The UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held talks with an Afghan delegation led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, acting Minister of Interior Affairs, in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday where the two sides discussed ways to enhance ties to serve mutual interests and contribute to regional stability.
The discussions focused on economic and development fields, as well as support for Afghanistan’s reconstruction.
Haqqani expressed his pleasure at meeting Sheikh Mohamed and praised the relations between the UAE and Afghanistan.
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