Afghanistan promises an “all-inclusive” government; Pakistan plays the victim card

Today was the first day of the three-day-long Model United Nations. The general topic was to discuss the happenings in Afghanistan. Various delegates from over 25 schools attended and debated their hearts, formed unlikely alliances and demonstrated their knowledge in multiple fields.

The Assembly started with a roll call followed by the passing of motions. Australia set the working agenda to address the situation in Afghanistan regarding social, economic and humanitarian issues. The delegate of Croatia was the inaugural speaker and favoured the method that the United Nations employed. The delegate of Afghanistan backed the rule of the Taliban, saying that in the future, they would build an “all-inclusive” government based on Sharia Law. This statement, by nature, is contradictory. Throughout history, the Taliban has implemented the Sharia Law that denies women the opportunity for representation in government and fundamental human rights. What is to say that the implementation will vary this time from the countless other times that it has occurred? Over the last 30 years, Afghanistan has depended on donor countries’ humanitarian aid. Now, its delegate is opening arms for humanitarian aid to reconstruct the cities whose destruction was caused by the group he pledged his allegiance to. Various other countries also feared this new government would be built on intolerance and encourage religious persecution. These claims were only worsened when they witnessed the brutal way the Taliban regime obtained its power this time.

The delegate of Pakistan was ready to open communication lines with the Taliban and come to a peace negotiation and said that they were with the Afghani citizens and denied the claims that they gave refuge and harboured the terrorists and claimed themselves to be ‘victims of terror’.

The United States suspended formal debate and raised a motion to speak about the situation of the women and children in Afghanistan, which passed, unanimously. The delegate of the USA speaks first proposing a solution that involves opening single-sex schools for women funded by various countries of the United Nations and teachers from the United States being sent to Afghanistan to teach in these same-sex schools. The USA also calls for the opening of lines of communications between Afghanistan and the USA, but this is not feasible as the USA fails to recognise the Taliban as the sovereign government of Afghanistan.

The Russian Federation stands by the decisions made by the Taliban and believes they will uphold their promises to the public. The delegate of Uganda feels that the Taliban is not to be blamed for the situation of women as the women had little to no rights before the Taliban takeover.

A new motion was passed to discuss and deliberate on the Afghanistan refugee crisis. The delegate of Bangladesh pleads to all the other representatives asking them to grant asylum to the Afghan refugees seeking asylum. Still, he contradicts himself and says there is a limit to how many refugees one country can take. The delegate from Afghanistan says there is nothing to fear and adds that the majority of the displacement of the people is due to the fear spread by western propaganda.

A new motion was passed to discuss the legitimacy of the Taliban government. Many countries believed that this government was not legitimate as it derived its power from violence and brutality, while others believed it was not legitimate as it did not give basic rights to a large portion of its citizens. Some thought that identifying this government as legitimate would help reach a peaceful end to a brutal history. And some countries believe that the Taliban is a good government for Afghanistan as they have a true sense of patriotism and do not want a foreign foot in Afghanistan.

The day ended with a crisis update which depicted the formation of a new organisation that stood for women’s rights and was supported by Scandinavian countries and the USA. The freeze date was pushed forward by ten days.

In a day of negotiating, lobbying and debating, there was still some time left for humour. A lighter moment was created by the delegate of Croatia when they said UNESCO was responsible for dealing with war-related issues, which was rectified after Iran brought up that UNESCO is a cultural and scientific organisation.