Taliban joins UN climate summit for the first time

The Taliban has sent a delegation to the UN climate summit for the first time since it took power in Afghanistan in 2021. The head of Afghanistan’s environmental protection agency, Matiul Haq Khalis, told reporters at Cop29 in Azerbaijan that he was grateful for the host government’s invitation to the talks; campaigners argue it signals a broader trend of international acceptance for the group. Although the Taliban will only have observer status at Cop29, officials can still participate in peripheral discussions and hold bilateral meetings. Khalis indicated he has requested bilaterals with a number of other nations while in Baku, including the US. The Taliban is currently barred from taking Afghanistan’s seat at the UN General Assembly, largely due to the Taliban’s escalating oppression of Afghan women and girls, which UN-appointed experts say amounts to gender apartheid.

Last week, Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur in Afghanistan who is currently barred from entering the country, said “the lack of a strong, cohesive response from the international community has already emboldened the Taliban”.

In October, Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), repeated previous calls for Afghanistan’s inclusion in this year’s Cop. In a statement, she said: “we cannot go another year without Afghan voices in this important global discussion on climate change”.

Fawzia Koofi, a women’s rights activist and former Afghan MP, posted on X in response to the news of the Taliban attendance at Cop29 that it was “disgusting to see gradual normalisation of the most suppressive power in the earth”.

“The UN has failed time and again to protect law and order in the world… the least we expect from them is to create no further marginalisation and pain to the people of Afghanistan by giving stage to their oppressors,” she said.

A recent assessment by climate experts ranked Afghanistan as the sixth most climate-vulnerable country in the world, with the effects of climate change disproportionately affecting women and girls.