Kabul
\nThe Taliban Friday welcomed a UN Security Council resolution formally extending the world body\u2019s presence in Afghanistan, although the government of the hardline Islamist group remains unrecognised by the international community.
\nThursday\u2019s resolution, which avoids using the word \u201cTaliban\u201d, allows the UN to continue work in Afghanistan, still reeling after decades of war and whose economy was devastated when the international community cut off aid as the group took power last year.
\nThe vote to extend the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) was 14 in favour, with one abstention, by Russia.
\nThe UN has not yet recognised the Taliban\u2019s pick of envoy to the body, and the resolution does not give the new government international recognition.
\nThe mission includes several strands of cooperation, on humanitarian and political issues as well as on human rights, including those of women, children and journalists.
\n\u201cWe consider the extension of the mandate of UNAMA as a good step and want them to work effectively for solving humanitarian and other problems in Afghanistan,\u201d Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP Friday.
\n\u201cWe will coordinate and cooperate with them.\u201d
\nFirst established in Afghanistan in 2002, UNAMA\u2019s mandate has in the past included humanitarian support, human rights advocacy and political and regional cooperation.
\nBefore last year it also sought to protect civilians throughout the conflict and support the peace process.
\n\u201cThe Council gives a clear message with this new mandate: UNAMA has a crucial role to play in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan and to support the Afghan people as they face unprecedented challenges and uncertainty,\u201d said Norwegian UN ambassador Mona Juul, whose country drafted the resolution.
\nThe security situation in Afghanistan appears to be stabilising, months after the Taliban seized power on August 15, 2021 amid a hasty withdrawal of US-led foreign forces after 20 years of war.
\nBut since then the country\u2019s humanitarian crisis has deepened.
\nThe United Nations and other global aid agencies have said that more than half of Afghanistan\u2019s 38 million people are facing hunger as winter drags on.
\nThe country has known almost continuous war since 1979, broken up only by the Taliban\u2019s first regime from 1996 to 2001.
\nAs a result it is one of the world\u2019s poorest countries, with little in the way of infrastructure and a young population traumatised by decades of fighting.
\nIn January, the UN made its biggest-ever single-country aid appeal, calling for $5 billion to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kabul The Taliban Friday welcomed a UN Security Council resolution formally extending the world body\u2019s presence in Afghanistan, although the government of the hardline Islamist group remains unrecognised by the international community. Thursday\u2019s resolution, which avoids using the word \u201cTaliban\u201d, allows the UN to continue work in Afghanistan, still reeling after decades of war and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5102,192,84],"class_list":{"0":"post-250126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-afghanistan-presence","9":"tag-taliban","10":"tag-un"},"yoast_head":"\n