UN Security Council Holds Useless Meeting on Afghanistan

Back in July, President Joe Biden claimed that “the likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.” Wrong! The Taliban have overrun everything, and they now own Afghanistan. The world is witnessing scenes of unfolding chaos and desperation in Afghanistan, amidst the triumphal return of the fanatical Islamic jihadists who overran Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, on August 15th. The Taliban met virtually no resistance. Afghanistan’s cowardly elected president fled the country.

The images of panicked Afghans running alongside moving U.S. military cargo planes at the Kabul airport

The images of panicked Afghans running alongside moving U.S. military cargo planes at the Kabul airport, clinging on to a plane’s side, are eerily reminiscent of the abandonment of Saigon in 1975. In fact, in some ways it’s even worse. Several Afghans fell to their death after one of the planes took off. Many people have expressed shock at the developing humanitarian crisis as the Taliban reimpose their fundamentalist Islamic law on the Afghan people. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have fled from their homes. Targeted killings are reportedly already taking place. All the progress that women and girls have made in securing some protections of their human rights is out the window. At an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting held on August 16th to discuss the Afghanistan crisis, Secretary General Antonio Guterres appealed to the Taliban “to respect and protect international humanitarian law and the rights and freedoms of all persons.” That will not happen until hell freezes over. Guterres also declared that “the international community must unite to make sure that Afghanistan is never again used as a platform or safe haven for terrorist organizations.” Too late. Biden has squandered what the U.S. and its NATO allies had previously managed to accomplish in that regard during the past two decades. Guterres concluded his remark by saying that the days ahead “will be pivotal. The world is watching. We cannot and must not abandon the people of Afghanistan.” Again, too late. The people of Afghanistan have already been abandoned, thanks to Biden’s reckless implementation of his decision to completely withdraw militarily from Afghanistan without any preconditions. In her remarks to the Security Council, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, expressed similar pie-in-the-sky sentiments. She said that “the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Afghan citizens – especially women, girls, and members of minority groups – must be respected. We also call on all parties to prevent terrorism, and we must all ensure Afghanistan cannot ever, ever again be a base for terrorism.”

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Nice sounding talking points for public consumption won’t stop the Taliban’s reign of terror

Afghanistan’s current UN ambassador, Ghulam M. Isaczai, provided Security Council members with a dose of reality. “Kabul residents are reporting that Taliban have already started house to house searches in some neighborhoods in Kabul, registering names and looking for people in their target list,” he said. “There are already reports of target killings and looting in the city.” At the conclusion of the Security Council meeting, this month’s president of the Security Council, India’s UN Ambassador T.S. Tirumurti, issued a press statement on the Council’s behalf. It is more of a wish list than a call for any global action to prevent civilian slaughter in Afghanistan. The statement lacks any indication that the Security Council believes the Taliban’s forceful takeover of the country should not be recognized as a legitimate transfer of power. Expect a major imbroglio next month if and when the Taliban demand that Afghanistan’s current UN ambassador be replaced by the Taliban’s hand-picked jihadist. The Security Council press statement reads in part as follows:

“The members of the Security Council called for an immediate cessation of all hostilities and the establishment, through inclusive negotiations, of a new Government that is united, inclusive and representative — including with the full, equal and meaningful participation of women. They underlined that institutional continuity and adherence to Afghanistan’s international obligations, as well as the safety and security of all Afghan and international citizens, must be ensured… They underscored that a sustainable end to the conflict in Afghanistan can only be achieved through an inclusive, just, durable and realistic political settlement that upholds human rights, including for women, children and minorities. The members of the Security Council called on parties to adhere to international norms and standards on human rights and put an end to all abuses and violations in this regard.” “The members of the Security Council reaffirmed the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan to ensure the territory of Afghanistan should not be used to threaten or attack any country, and that neither the Taliban nor any other Afghan group or individual should support terrorists operating on the territory of any other country.”

Nice sounding talking points for public consumption won’t stop the Taliban’s reign of terror. The Taliban, like al Qaeda and ISIS, believe that it is their duty to convert or subject all infidels to their fundamentalist brand of Islam. Those who won’t submit deserve to die, according to these thugs who are now running Afghanistan and who couldn’t care less what the “international community” thinks of them.