UN Chief Guterres Got Letter From Taliban Requesting to Join 76th Session of General Assembly

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has received a letter from the foreign affairs minister of the Taliban* group requesting to participate in the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told Sputnik.

"On 15 September 2021, the Secretary-General received a communication from the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United Nations signed by Ambassador Ghulam Isaczai, the Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations in New York, containing the list of delegation of Afghanistan for the 76th session of the General Assembly. The Permanent Representative is listed as the head of delegation," Haq said.

A Doha-based spokesperson of the movement Mohammad Suhail Shaheen has been nominated to lead Afghanistan’s mission to the United Nations, Haq said.

"The letter further indicates that the mission of the Permanent Representative is considered over and that he no longer represents Afghanistan. A new Permanent Representative, Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, is nominated," the letter said, according to Haq.

A month ago the Taliban entered Kabul and announced the end of the war. The last province to resist the group, Panjshir, surrendered on 6 September. The Taliban then formed an interim government with Mohammad Hasan Akhund at the top, who served as a foreign minister during the first Taliban rule.

*A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.