Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva at UNSC briefing on the situation in Afghanistan
Mr. President,
We thank Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva for her assessment of the situation in the country. The Russian Federation supports the work of the UNAMA under your leadership within its mandate. We note the interest of Kabul in building up their contacts with you. It is gratifying that the UN remains committed to maintaining its presence in Afghanistan and providing the necessary assistance to its people.
We listened carefully to the interventions by the UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous and the civil society representative Karima Bennoune. We are delighted that speakers from the region have been given the floor during today’s deliberations.
We took note of the Secretary-General's report on the situation in Afghanistan and would like to offer the following remarks.
It has been years that the UNSC has been discussing the situation in the country. Over that time Afghanistan has seen the ruling of the Taliban in 1990s and the 20-year war that followed and led to the de facto collapse of the state, the shameful fleeing of the US and NATO troops and, paradoxically as it may seem, the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. What remains unchanged in the course of these transformations are the West’s empty promises to build the long-awaited peace, as well as the scale of problems and challenges the people of Afghanistan still has to cope with on its own.
When analyzing the situation in the country over the past two decades, one cannot oversee the fact that the main result of the inglorious military campaign was the return to power of those whom Washington and its allies had been fighting so fiercely all those years and with whom they finally signed the agreement in Doha behind the back of the Afghan people whose interests they pretended to defend. So, let me ask the esteemed Western colleagues: what were the true reasons behind your long presence in the country? It looks like Afghanistan was a testing ground for the US regional strategy and various types of weapons, as well as a place for laundering millions of dollars and implementing a corruption scheme established over the years and involving some Western partners of the Afghan republican power. As a result of the so-called fight against terrorism, Afghanistan has turned into yet another safe haven for extremists of all sorts and the hotbed of another wing of ISIL. Apart from that, the country has witnessed numerous war crimes committed by the US and their NATO allies. Naturally, we can hardly expect our US colleagues to find courage to confess to it openly. Quite on the contrary, they take great pains to erase from history – sometimes with the threat of sanctions – any evidence of their atrocities as if they had never happened.
In this context, loud statements of our colleagues pretending that they remain concerned about the lives of common Afghans, including women and children, look hypocritical since they were the ones who betrayed them and left behind. Not to mention the pretended worries about the lack of any prerequisites for a true settlement and recovery of Afghanistan.
Judging by the deeds rather than words, Western countries now do not care either about the Afghan people, including women and girls, or about the unparalleled humanitarian and economic crisis. Their main focus lies on the war against Russia in Ukraine and the pumping of the latter full of weapons and money.
Mr. President,
We share the assessment by the Secretary-General of the complicated inner-political situation in Afghanistan. We remain particularly concerned by the security risks related to the terrorist activity of ISIL-Khorasan that has gained power over the years of the Western intervention. We see that the terrorists deliberately continue to escalate the situation by committing terrorist attacks, creating the atmosphere of fear and desperation and calling to “raise weapons against unorthodox Muslims” as they consider the Taliban. All of this fuels radicalization of the young people. The goal is obvious: to present themselves as a real alternative power and to undermine stability in neighboring countries. At the same time, it is no secret – and ISIL fighters confirm it themselves – that they receive external assistance, including from foreign special services. We are not surprised, though: during the Republican rule, we heard many times about ISIL fighters being transported with NATO helicopters. In this regard, we are concerned about security of the personnel of UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and humanitarian workers on the ground. We acknowledge the efforts of the de facto authorities. However, it is obvious that they are not enough to fully eradicate this wasp nest. Meanwhile, the chances of the spillover of terrorist activities in the neighboring countries in Central Asia remain high.
Terrorism is closely interrelated with drug trafficking. We are convinced that there is no alternative to comprehensive global and regional assistance to eradicate this threat, including through the UNODC. It is obvious that faced with mass hunger and poverty, Afghanistan will hardly be able to overcome the challenges alone. In this regard we acknowledge the efforts of the UNODC to support Afghan farmers. We believe they need greater scale and consistency.
We closely monitor the humanitarian and socio-economic situation in the country. We note the efforts taken by the UN institutions and reginal organizations to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. Dedicated work of humanitarian agencies and their personnel who are ready to stay and continue helping the Afghan population whatever the situation on the ground, deserves applaud. Nonetheless, any UN efforts to extend its assistance beyond basic necessities continue to be blocked by Western donors who categorically reject any possibility of providing development assistance to the country, including for restoration of schools and hospitals or road construction. In this context, the artificial pretexts to deliberately reduce Western contributions to the financing of the UN Humanitarian Response Plan for Afghanistan bear no scrutiny. Think about it: this year alone, the UN received 1.83 billion US dollars for providing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. Chronically underfinanced are the response plans not only for Afghanistan but for most other countries in the world, too. This discrimination has no justification.
Humanitarian and development challenges also include water scarcity in some regions, which forces locals to leave their homes and migrate to other provinces. We note the UNAMA efforts to assist the Afghans, including with support of the UNFDP, the UNHCR and other agencies.
We continue to follow the developments around the situation with the rights of all Afghans on the whole, including the fundamental rights of women and girls for labor and education. We take note of the statements by the de facto authorities but hope for a prompt resolution of these problems. Forming a truly inclusive government with participation of all ethno-political groups of the country remains for us a priority issue. We hope to see progress at this track, too.
Mr. President,
The Afghan people deserves its right to live in peace and stability, as nobody else. However, building such lasting and sustainable peace is hardly possible without patient and pragmatic engagement with the de facto authorities on a wide range of urgent issues. There is no alternative. For the efficiency of UNAMA, too, sticking to a comprehensive approach is crucial.
Russia has been consistently promoting the development of cooperation with Afghanistan with a view to achieving a comprehensive settlement. We work jointly with our partners to elaborate a common approach to the situation in the country. The Moscow format was established to serve this goal, and its next meeting is scheduled to take place on September 29 in Kazan. Also invited are the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Indonesia, as well as the delegation of the Taliban. We note the potential of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group. We regularly compare notes on the situation in Afghanistan within the CSTO and the CIS. We also participate in the format of Afghanistan’s neighbor states and the quartet of China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran. We equally use our bilateral channels of communication with the de facto authorities to discuss ways to accelerate the achievement of all declared goals.
We will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people and build up our cooperation at the socio-economic track. We are interested in developing our relations with Kabul, including with a view to restoring the infrastructure of Russian enterprises.
Thank you.
