Taliban bans UN special rapporteur from traveling to Afghanistan

The Taliban barred United Nations special rapporteur Richard Bennett from entering Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Bennett was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in April 2022 and assumed the position a month later, nearly a year after the Taliban rose to power in August 2021. He was appointed to track any infringement by the Taliban on Afghans’ human rights.

“The Taliban’s public announcement that they will no longer grant me access to Afghanistan is a step backwards and sends a concerning signal about their engagement with the United Nations and the international community on human rights,” Bennett said.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, accused Bennett of spreading “propaganda” about Afghanistan and told TOLO News, a local outlet, that Bennett “is not someone we trust. He is not in Afghanistan, and he is no longer permitted to come here. He used to exaggerate minor issues and propagate them.”

Bennett, who has traveled to Afghanistan several times but does not live there, urged the Taliban to reverse its decision.

Last week, Bennett released a statement with several other UN officials recognizing the third anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and their reversals of several rights and freedoms.

“Over the past three years, the people of Afghanistan, especially women and girls, have been subjected to an appalling and intensifying attack on their rights and freedoms by a regime that lacks legitimacy and inclusivity, quashes all forms of dissent, represses civil society and the media, and has shown a flagrant disregard for the principles of justice, non-discrimination, equality, and the rule of law,” the letter reads.

The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan three years ago, which included bringing down the U.S.-backed Ghani government, coincided with the U.S. military’s withdrawal from the country after two decades. Both former President Donald Trump, who is running for reelection, and President Joe Biden wanted to end the U.S. military’s presence in Afghanistan, against the advice of several military leaders.

“I thought it would be a matter of months, not weeks, but I thought the collapse of the Afghans was inevitable,” retired Gen. Frank McKenzie said on the School of War podcast this week. “That was my opinion from the beginning. … And it was pretty clear to me that’s what would happen.”

Trump made a deal with the Taliban to end the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, and Biden, once he became president, moved forward with the withdrawal of forces. The U.S. war in Afghanistan, which began in the aftermath of 9/11, ended on Aug. 30, 2021, 20 years later.

McKenzie, in the appearance, was critical of the State Department’s delayed initiation of a noncombatant emergency operation to get at-risk Afghans, Americans, and others out of the country given the Taliban’s rise to power.

“When President Biden actually made the decision to go to effectively zero in April [2021], we did not, at that time, make a similar decision to bring our embassy, our American citizens, and our at-risk Afghans out,” McKenzie said. “Remember, that decision to come out was made in April. By July, we were out. The military power was out. We had an embassy of still well over 1,000 people, all our citizens and all our at-risk Afghans left in Afghanistan, and 700 forces, more or less, on the ground to defend the embassy and [Hamid Karzai International Airport] in Kabul, and nothing else, but all these people were still there. The noncombatant evacuation operation was declared on 15 August.”

With the Taliban in charge, ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group, as well as al-Qaida have been working to reconstitute. The U.S. has lost much of its ability to track terrorist groups in Afghanistan without a physical presence in the country, according to McKenzie, who said, “Our ability to actually look into Afghanistan, [to] understand what goes on in Afghanistan, is such a small percentage of what it used to be that is effectively zero.”

No country has recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government since they seized control.