JAKARTA - The UN envoy to Afghanistan on Wednesday delivered a grim assessment of the situation following the takeover of the Taliban, saying affiliates of the Islamic State group have grown and are now appearing in almost all 34 provinces.
UN Special Representative Deborah Lyons told the UN Security Council that the Taliban's response to the expansion of the Islamic State-Province of Khorasan (ISKP) or ISIS-K "seems to rely heavily on the extrajudicial detention and killing" of suspected ISKP fighters.
"This is an area that deserves more attention from the international community," he said, citing Reuters Nov. 18.
His comments came hours after the group, the Taliban's ideological foes, claimed responsibility for two explosions that killed at least one person and injured six in a Shi'ite neighborhood of Kabul.
The Taliban, he said, were unable to stem ISKP's growth.
"Once confined to a few provinces and capitals, ISKP now appears to be present in almost all provinces, and is increasingly active," Lyons said, adding that the group's number of attacks had risen from 60 in 2020 to 334 this year.
Meanwhile the Taliban have made "sincere efforts to present themselves as the government", since capturing Kabul in August after a 20-year war with the United States. They continue to exclude representatives from other sectors of society and limit the rights of women and girls.
The UN mission regularly receives credible reports of house searches and "unlawful killings" of former security personnel and officials, it said.
In addition, Lyons warned again of a humanitarian catastrophe as winter approaches due to a failing economy and drought.
He appealed to the international community to find a way to fund the salaries of health workers, teachers, and humanitarian workers, saying humanitarian aid was insufficient.
SEE ALSO:
-
| BERITA
Enggan Tanggapi Latihan Militer NATO di Laut Hitam Berlebihan, Presiden Putin: Tidak Perlu
14 November 2021, 05:05
An economic collapse would fuel drug, weapons, and human trafficking in unregulated exchange of money that "can only help facilitate terrorism," Lyons said.
"These pathologies will first affect Afghanistan. Then they will infect the region," Lyons said.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
