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Deborah Lyons pleaded with the UN Security Council to prevent Afghanistan from falling into a “catastrophe.”
The UN Special Envoy for Afghanistan questioned the Taliban’s commitment to a political settlement, telling the UN Security Council that the war has entered a “more deadly and destructive phase”, with more than 1,000 civilians killed in attacks by armed elements in the past month. group.
“The party that is truly committed to a negotiated settlement will not risk so many civilian casualties, because it will understand that the reconciliation process will be more challenging and bleeding,” Deborah Lyons told the 15-member committee via video- The link from Kabul on Friday.
The Taliban control large swaths of rural areas and are now challenging the Afghan government forces in several large cities, including Herat near the western border of Iran, and Lashkar Gah and Kandahar in the south.
Taliban on Friday Occupied their first provincial capital Since launching an offensive to cooperate with the withdrawal of foreign troops.
“Zarangi, the capital of Nimruz province, has fallen into the hands of the Taliban,” Rogul Kelzad, deputy governor of Nimruz province, told AFP.
She said the city in southwestern Afghanistan near the Iranian border was occupied “without fighting.”
The war is also increasingly spreading to the capital Kabul, where the Taliban Shot A media message from the head of the Afghan government on Friday.
The Taliban took advantage of the security vacuum left by the withdrawal of US troops. The fighting has been going on fiercely since May, when the U.S. and other foreign forces began the first phase of withdrawal that will be completed later this month.
“Now this is a different type of war, reminiscent of the recent Syria, or Sarajevo in the not-too-distant past,” Lyon said.
“Attacks in urban areas are deliberately causing great harm and causing a large number of civilian casualties. Nevertheless, the threat to large urban areas seems to be a strategic decision by the Taliban, and they have accepted the possible massacre,” she said.
The Afghan government and Taliban negotiators started peace talks in Doha, the capital of Qatar, but did not make any substantial progress.
‘We have a chance’
“Today we have a chance,” Lyon pleaded with the committee. “This is an opportunity to show that the UN Security Council, the region you represent, and the international community are committed to preventing Afghanistan from falling into a catastrophic situation that is so serious that there is almost no similarity in this century.”
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, told the Security Council that the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan is becoming more and more worrying. “With the withdrawal of foreign troops, the prospects look grim.”
“Obviously, there is no military solution to the situation in Afghanistan, but under the current situation-given the lack of progress on the negotiating track-unfortunately, the prospect of Afghanistan falling into a full and protracted civil war is a grim reality. ,” he said.
Senior American diplomat Jeffrey Laurentiis urged the Taliban to stop the offensive, seek a political solution and protect Afghanistan’s infrastructure and people.
“The Taliban must learn from the international community that we will not accept the military takeover of Afghanistan or the return of the Taliban Islamic Emirate,” he said.
Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ghulam Isakzai, urged the Security Council to take action to “prevent catastrophic situations”.
“We are shocked by the reports and incidents of the Taliban and its foreign terrorist associates that have severely violated human rights in nearly half of our country. We are extremely worried about the safety and security of the people in the cities under the Taliban’s attacks,” he said.
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