Russia’s Lavrov says IEA recognition ‘not on the table’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that international recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) was not currently under consideration.

Lavrov was speaking on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. His comments come after the IEA nominated a U.N. envoy, setting up a showdown over Afghanistan’s seat at the world body.

“The question of international recognition of the Taliban (IEA) at the present juncture is not on the table,” Lavrov told a news conference.

Afghanistan’s new acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Monday nominated the IEA’s Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s U.N. ambassador.

Ghulam Isaczai, the U.N. ambassador who represents the former Afghan government, has also asked to renew his U.N. accreditation.

Russia is a member of a nine-member U.N credentials committee – along with China and the United States – which will deal with the competing claims on Afghanistan’s U.N. seat later this year.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that the IEA’s desire for international recognition is the only leverage other countries have to press for inclusive government and respect for rights, particularly for women, in Afghanistan.

When the IEA last ruled between 1996 and 2001 the ambassador of the Afghan government they toppled remained the U.N. representative after the credentials committee deferred its decision on rival claims to the seat.