Iranian Prez’s Envoy Criticises Taliban Representative's 'Disrespect' To National Anthem

This action happened while Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, was also present at the ceremony

The 38th International Conference of Islamic Unity was held on Thursday in the presence of representatives of Islamic countries. During the opening ceremony of this meeting, the national anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran was played. In the video released since the beginning of the meeting, the representative of the Taliban government is the only one who did not stand up when the national anthem of the Islamic Republic was played.

The Taliban has not commented on this so far.
The authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran have not said anything about this encounter between Taliban diplomats.

Earlier, the Taliban government's representative in Pakistan also showed similar behaviour in front of the Pakistani national anthem at an official ceremony. Mohibullah Shakir, the Taliban's consul general in Peshawar, was invited to a conference on Tuesday at the invitation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur. According to diplomatic custom, diplomats must stand when the host country's national anthem is played, but he and his companion were the only ones who did not.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch strongly condemned the Taliban diplomat's action, saying, "We will convey our strong protest to Afghan authorities in Islamabad and Kabul."

The party wrote that Rabbani had explicitly rejected the Taliban's offer at the time, citing religious reasons.

In a statement on Thursday, on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the assassination of the party's leader, Burhanuddin Rabbani, the Jamiat-e-Islami Party of Afghanistan wrote that Rabbani had rejected the Taliban's proposal, stressing that he would "not succumb to illegitimate and irrational proposals and will remain committed to resistance against this group”.

Currently, anti-moderation is spreading in Afghanistan, and the people are once again under the onslaught of "increasing oppression, ignorance, extremism and criminal bigotry,” the statement said.

The Jamiat-e-Islami Party has emphasised that it remains committed to the programmes and ideals of Burhanuddin Rabbani and considers following political thought and a way of life based on moderation and peaceful coexistence as a serious necessity in the current situation.

Burhanuddin Rabbani, head of the Mujahideen government and head of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, was killed in a suicide attack in Kabul on September 20, 2011. He was assassinated by people who were supposedly carrying a "special message" from the Taliban.

Condemning the killing of 14 Hazara civilians in Daikundi, Amir Saeid Iravani called on the Taliban to curb all terrorist groups.

Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's representative to the United Nations, said at a UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan on Wednesday, that attacks and the spread of ISIS-K propaganda threaten the security and stability of Afghanistan and the region.

"We strongly condemn the recent terrorist attacks by ISIS, especially against the Shia and Hazara communities. "Once again, we call on the de facto authorities to fulfil their obligations to confront terrorism equally and disband all terrorist groups."

Iran's representative to the Security Council also described the Taliban's restrictions on women, girls, and ethnic minorities as "concerning" and called on the Taliban to lift all these restrictions.
According to Iravani, Iran is "deeply concerned about the continuing drug problem”.

The Iranian diplomat also stated that there are currently more than six million Afghan refugees living in Iran, and that Iran spends more than $10 billion annually on this issue. Criticising the international community's inattention to this "urgent issue", he called for sustained support from the international community to Iran and Pakistan, which are facing the challenge of Afghan refugees.

Iran's representative to the United Nations criticised the international community's negligence while Iran has exerted extensive pressure on Afghan refugees in various cities these days, forcibly deporting hundreds and thousands of Afghan refugees every day.

The Taliban did not specifically mention the removal of the name of any particular member of the group.

Recently, some sanctioned Taliban officials have travelled to countries including the United Arab Emirates.

According to the UN Sanctions Monitoring Team, 61 members of the Taliban are under sanctions, 35 of whom are cabinet members and senior officials of the group.

Taliban’s Foreign Ministry officials also said on Thursday that in the past year, dozens of the group's diplomats have been introduced and accepted to countries such as Malaysia, Turkiye, Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, China, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

The Taliban also said that senior officials from regional countries, the European Union and the United Nations travelled to Afghanistan and met with the group's officials.

According to the Taliban, in the past year, Taliban officials have made 46 trips to different countries and participated in meetings in Qatar, Turkiye, Pakistan, and Iran.

The Taliban also said that within a year, 959 foreign citizens were issued visas for Afghanistan.

Taliban officials said that the group provides consular services in 19 political and consular missions in Afghanistan. The group also said that it had established a "single, centralised visa issuance system" in Afghanistan's 26 diplomatic and consular missions.

Munir Akram, at the United Nations Security Council meeting, said that Pakistan has evidence that some of the attacks inside Pakistan have been facilitated by elements in the Taliban government.

Pakistan's representative to the United Nations said at the meeting that the Taliban has not been successful in fighting ISIS-K and at the same time, it has given sanctuary and protection to al-Qaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

"The TTP is a group of concern for Pakistan and should be of concern to the entire region and the world," he said. "With about 6,000 fighters, it is the largest terrorist group in Afghanistan."

Munir Akram also said that the Taliban has given shelter to TTP members near Pakistan's borders, and that the group attacks targets in Pakistan almost every day from these areas.

According to Pakistan's representative to the UN, hundreds of Pakistani soldiers and civilians have been killed in TTP attacks.

Munir Akram added that the Pakistani Taliban have been equipped with modern weapons left behind by foreign forces in Afghanistan, the warehouses of which have been provided to the Afghan Taliban.

He accused some Afghan Taliban commanders of being involved in some of the border clashes that led to casualties on both sides of the border.

The Pakistani diplomat warned at the Security Council meeting that given the Taliban's long relationship with al-Qaeda, it will not take long for the TTP to act as an agent of al-Qaeda in the region and the world.

"Although some friends are concerned about the threat posed by ISIS-K, they should also be concerned about the threat posed by the powerful TTP in the not-too-distant future," the Pakistani representative said.

“Widespread human rights violations by Taliban”
Pakistan's representative to the United Nations also expressed concern about the human rights situation in Afghanistan. Like other countries, Pakistan is concerned about human rights violations, especially for women and girls in Afghanistan, he said.

The Taliban have abandoned their initial commitment to women and girls, as well as the fight against terrorism, Munir Akram said.
Instead of easing restrictions, the Taliban have doubled the restrictions by passing a new law.

The representative of Pakistan said that the normalisation of relations with the Taliban is contingent on the formation of an inclusive government, the observance of human rights, especially the rights of women and girls, and the serious fight of this group against terrorist groups.