Taliban presses for UN seat as it rejects reports of women’s work ban as ‘propaganda’

NEW DELHI: Afghanistan has lately renewed its demands to be included among countries being represented at the United Nations, terming reports of the Taliban regime forbidding women from taking up jobs as “propaganda outside the country”, say recent reports from Kabul. 

The regime has yet to be granted official recognition by the world body or its member-states, except Russia. Moscow officially recognised the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2025, remaining the only country to do so since Kabul fell to the regime on August 15, 2021. Russia’s recognition followed a series of diplomatic steps, including the removal of the Taliban from Russia’s list of terrorist organisations in April 2025 and the acceptance of a Taliban ambassador in Kabul.

About two dozen countries yet continue to directly maintain de facto diplomatic ties with the Taliban, though at different levels. Some nations, such as Russia and China, host accredited Taliban diplomats and maintain embassies in Kabul, where Beijing is yet to grant official recognition to Afghanistan’s current regime.

India, too, has representation in Kabul and its representative in New Delhi, though without official recognition for the regime. Several Western nations, including the United States of America, still hold the Taliban as a terrorist organisation, with Afghanistan’s assets in the millions remaining frozen and its representatives under a travel ban abroad without prior UN clearance.

Afghanistan’s Administrative Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi told TOLOnews this week that with security ensured and poppy cultivation and drug trafficking brought to an end in Afghanistan, Kabul has the right to have its representative at the United Nations. A United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) report, released last week, also highlighted these issues.

“A reduction in conflict has brought tangible benefits for many Afghans and created opportunities to focus on recovery, development and regional economic cooperation, with positive steps taken including a ban on opium poppy cultivation,” it observed.  (IANS)

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