Host country Azerbaijan invited officials from Afghanistan’s environment agency to COP29 as observers, allowing them to “potentially participate in peripheral discussions and possibly hold bilateral meetings.” , a diplomatic source close to the matter told Reuters.
Because the Taliban are not formally recognized within the United Nations system as Afghanistan’s legitimate government, the source said, officials cannot receive accreditations to participate in full member state discussions. Azerbaijan’s presidency of COP29 declined to comment.
The Taliban closed schools and universities to female students over the age of approximately 12. They also announced a set of sweeping moral laws this year that require women to cover their faces in public and restrict their movement outside the home without a male guardian. .
The Taliban say they respect women’s rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law. Afghanistan is considered one of the countries most affected by climate change. Flash floods have killed hundreds of people this year and the country, heavily dependent on agriculture, has suffered one of the worst droughts in decades. Many subsistence farmers, who make up a large part of the population, face increasing food insecurity.
Some supporters have criticized the Taliban’s international isolation, saying it only harms the Afghan people.
“Afghanistan is one of the countries that is really being left behind in terms of its needs,” said Habib Mayar, deputy secretary general of the g7+, an intergovernmental organization of conflict-affected countries.
“It’s a double price they pay,” Mayar said. “There is a lack of attention, a lack of connection with the international community, and then there are growing humanitarian needs.”
