Taliban demands UN recognition

The Taliban movement on Wednesday renewed its demand to occupy Afghanistan’s seat at the United Nations, hours after its fighters captured the key opposition stronghold of Taloqan, capital of the northeastern province of Takhar. Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel, in a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, attacked the world body for inviting ousted Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani to New York to address the UN Millennium Summit and said the UN should not turn a blind eye to the realities in Afghanistan. “It is obvious that the ousted president has no power or authority in the area under his control, which is less than five percent of Afghan territory,” Muttawakel said. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan urges the UN once again to give the chair of Afghanistan to the Taliban and not to invite enemies of the people of Afghanistan to the organisation,” he added. The UN Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for Afghanistan Francesc Vendrell met the spiritual leader of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, for the first time on Wednesday.