The Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations is the formal title of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's delegation to the United Nations. [1] Afghanistan officially joined the United Nations on 19 November 1946 [2] as the Kingdom of Afghanistan.
The Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations is the leader of the Afghanistan Mission to the United Nations.
The current Charge d'affairs (a concept meant to denote an interim representation between ambassadors) of Afghanistan is Naseer Faiq. [3]
The Taliban, who are in effective control of most of Afghanistan have nominated Suhail Shaheen as their envoy to the United Nations in September 2021, but their request has not been approved yet. [4]
The Afghanistan Permanent Mission to the United Nations is housed in a building located at 633 Third Avenue Floor 27 A, New York 10017.
The foreign relations of Afghanistan are in a transitional phase since the 2021 fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the collapse of the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. No country has recognised the new Taliban-run government, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Although some countries have engaged in informal diplomatic contact with the Islamic Emirate, formal relations remain limited to representatives of the Islamic Republic.
The Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is an Afghan political and militant movement with an ideology comprising elements of Pashtun nationalism and the Deobandi movement of Islamic fundamentalism. It ruled approximately 75% of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, before it was overthrown by an American invasion after the September 11th attacks carried out by the Taliban's ally al-Qaeda. The Taliban recaptured Kabul in August 2021 following the departure of coalition forces, after 20 years of Taliban insurgency, and now controls the entire country. The Taliban government is not recognized by any country and has been internationally condemned for restricting human rights, including women's rights to work and have an education.
Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad is an American diplomat and foreign policy expert. Khalilzad was U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation from September 2018 to October 2021. Khailzad was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as United States ambassador to the United Nations, serving in the role from 2007 to 2009. Khalilzad was the highest ranking Muslim-American in government at the time he left the position. Prior to this, Khalilzad served in the Bush administration as ambassador to Afghanistan from 2004 to 2005 and Ambassador to Iraq from 2005 to 2007.
Maleeha Lodhi is a Pakistani diplomat, political scientist, and a former Pakistan's Representative to the United Nations. She was the first woman to hold the position. Previously, she served as Pakistan's envoy to the Court of St James' and twice as its ambassador to the United States.
Jean Arnault is a French diplomat who currently serves as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres' Personal Envoy on Afghanistan and Regional Issues.
The Embassy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in New Delhi is the diplomatic mission of the Afghanistan to India. The chancery is located at 5/50-F Shantipath in Chanakyapuri of New Delhi. In addition to the embassy, Afghanistan also has a consulate general in Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Senior leaders of the Afghan Taliban have been stationed in Doha, Qatar, since the early 2010s. The original purpose for being there was to open an office that would facilitate political reconciliation between the Taliban, the government of Afghanistan, the United States and other countries. After the Taliban office building opened in 2013, peace negotiations were suspended following objections by the Afghan government that the office was being presented as the embassy of a government in exile. Taliban leaders remained in Doha with accommodation from the Qatari government, on the condition that the office cannot be used for public dealings.
The permanent representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations is the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's foremost diplomatic representative to the United Nations. The permanent Representative is the head of a diplomatic mission to the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City. The permanent representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations has headed the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations since Afghanistan became a UN Member State on 19 November 1946.
Afghanistan officially joined the United Nations on 19 November 1946 as the Kingdom of Afghanistan. In June 1945, the month after war had ended in Europe, representatives from 50 countries came together and drew up the UN Charter, which was signed on 26 June 1945. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945.
The United Nations Credentials Committee is a committee of the United Nations General Assembly whose main purpose is to report to the Assembly regarding the credentials of the body's representatives.
Adela Raz is an Afghan politician who was the last ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United States from July 2021 to February 2022. She was also the first woman to serve as Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations.
An embassy without a government is a diplomatic mission that represents a deposed government to its host country. Such a mission usually arises from a civil conflict which leads to a regime change from an internationally recognised government to one or more new governments that may or may not be recognised when established for a variety or reasons.
Muhammad Suhail Shaheen is a Taliban member who is currently the head of the Political Office in Doha. He edited the English-language, state-owned Afghan newspaper The Kabul Times during the first Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001), before being appointed to Afghanistan's Embassy in Pakistan as a deputy ambassador.
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was a presidential republic in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2021. The state was established to replace the Afghan interim (2001–2002) and transitional (2002–2004) administrations, which were formed after the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan that had toppled the partially recognized Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. However, on 15 August 2021, the country was recaptured by the Taliban, which marked the end of the 2001–2021 war, the longest war in US history. This led to the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, led by President Ashraf Ghani, and the reinstatement of the Islamic Emirate under the control of the Taliban. While the United Nations still recognizes the Islamic Republic as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, this toppled regime controls no portion of the country today, nor does it operate in exile; it effectively no longer exists. The Islamic Emirate is the de facto ruling government. The US–Taliban deal, signed on 29 February 2020 in Qatar, was one of the critical events that caused the collapse of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Following the deal, the US dramatically reduced the number of air attacks and deprived the ANSF of a critical edge in fighting the Taliban insurgency, leading to the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
The Taliban has ruled Afghanistan as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since taking control by force in 2021, overthrowing the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The takeover was widely criticized by the international community, and no countries have extended de jure diplomatic recognition to the new regime, despite nominally maintaining relations with Afghanistan. The Taliban has campaigned for international recognition since the takeover. Several countries have vowed never to recognize the Islamic Emirate, and others have said they will do so only if human rights in the country are respected. Some countries have accredited Taliban diplomats at the chargé d'affaires level despite not recognizing the Islamic Emirate. In September 2023, the People's Republic of China became the first country to formally name a new ambassador to the country since the takeover, and in January 2024 recognized the Taliban's envoy to China; however, the PRC still does not formally recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. The United Arab Emirates also accepted a Taliban appointed diplomat as Afghanistan's new ambassador in August 2024.
The politics of Afghanistan are based on a totalitarian emirate within the Islamic theocracy in which the Taliban Movement holds a monopoly on power. Dissent is not permitted, and politics are mostly limited to internal Taliban policy debates and power struggles. As the government is provisional, there is no constitution or other basis for the rule of law. The structure is autocratic, with all power concentrated in the hands of the supreme leader and his clerical advisors. According to the V-Dem Democracy indices Afghanistan was as of 2023 the 4th least electoral democratic country in the world.
Naseer Ahmad Faiq is the Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations, serving as chargé d’affaires since 17 December 2021 at the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations in New York. Born and raised in Afghanistan, Faiq began his career in politics after joining the Afghanistan Foreign Service in 2005.
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