Afghanistan Envoy Withdraws From Assembly Debate – UN

Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Nations Ghulam Isaczai, pulled out of delivering an address to world leaders at the General Assembly later Monday.

Ghulam Isaczai, who represented president Ashraf Ghani’s regime that was ousted last month, had been due to defy the Taliban with a speech but his name was removed from the list of speakers early Monday.

Monica Grayley, a spokeswoman for the assembly’s president, confirmed that the country has wirhdrawn its participation in the general debate but added that Afghanistan’s mission to the UN had not cited a reason for the withdrawal.

The Taliban wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week requesting that its new foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, be allowed to “participate.”

The letter insisted that Isaczai “no longer represents” Afghanistan at the global body.

The letter said that the Taliban had nominated their Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s permanent representative to the UN.

The note came after Guterres had received a separate letter from Isaczai, dated September 15, containing the list of Afghanistan’s delegation for the session.