بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
In the Name of Almighty God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon and Peace Be Upon you.
First and foremost, I would like to extend my gratitude to Glocal Observatory on Local Communities, and in particular, to Mr. Vas Shenoy for holding this important gathering in memorium of the 20th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Commander Ahmad Shah Masoud as well as providing an opportunity for guests such as myself to talk about Afghanistan, Taliban, and the Future.
My discussion today will have four parts.
First, I will talk about why it is important to commemorate the Late Commander Masoud.
Second, by employing concepts such as internal and external legitimacy, I will elaborate on the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s latest stance on the announcement of the so-called the new caretaker cabinet by the Taliban.
Third, I will provide you with a couple of premises as food for thought, specifically as it relates to the implications of a terrorist organization taking power by force and forming an Islamist Radical Emirate Caretaker cabinet.
Last, I fill focus on the expectation and aspiration of millions of Afghans, that are either entrapped in Afghanistan and those of our diaspora that disturbed and perturbed as to what the international community, including Italy shall do regarding Afghanistan. This of course is prescriptive not instructive.
Let me start by saying that, some Afghans have always asked me, why is it that the world and Afghans must commemorate Late Commander Masoud?
My response is very simple. Mature Masoud was the personification of Unity, Freedom, Independence, Patriotism, Valor, Piety, Resistance and Democracy.
In fact, these are the values that we the Afghans are now fighting to protect.
At the same time, Masoud is a sign of Afghanistan’s political and social continuity, has we have seen in the recent days how people from all over Afghanistan, from different ethnic groups gathered in Panjshir to continue to fight against domestic tyranny and foreign interference in Afghanistan.
Let me tell you, in the next following days, weeks, months and even years, this struggle shall solidify and continue. In fact, the demonstration of the brave Afghan women and men in the past few days in Kabul, Herat, Badakhshan, and other part of the country are early signs of a national struggle and uprising in Afghanistan. Though in response, the Taliban killed, wiped, detained, and punished women, men, and our journalists, but they must understand that they cannot win with force and guns; they can win with their so called new strategic communication; and surely they cannot win by being supported by those states, intelligence services, and organizations that support them.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the past few days, through our engagement with the media, I have been asked repeatedly, that since the so-called Taliban Emirate caretaker cabinet has been announced, does the Afghan embassy in Italy recognize them?
My response has been No.
My reason for their non-recognition is predicated on two legal/diplomatic concepts, namely Internal legitimacy, and external legitimacy.
First, Internal legitimacy- Emanates from the Free will of the citizens of Afghanistan as envisioned in our living democratic constitution of 2004.
Our constitution epitomizes the importance of the Republic and Right to Self-Determination through Electoral Process and the preservation of democratic values and aspirations of millions of Afghan citizens who made the ultimate sacrifice next to you-our international partners around the world. At this juncture, I would like to take the opportunity to thank our international partners including our historical and fraternal ally Italy for all the sacrifices they have rendered both in blood and treasure in Afghanistan.
Second, External legitimacy-is based on multilateral and bilateral mechanisms such as the UN Charter, Vienna Convention, UNSC resolutions, bilateral and multilateral agreements, forums, and conferences as well as bilateral relations that exists between Afghanistan and host countries.
Based on the last UNSC resolution, external legitimacy can be attained by the Taliban
If they form an inclusive government (which they have not);
Be held accountable to stand by their commitments of upholding human rights, including of children, women and minorities (which they have totally obliterated);
Allow full, safe, and unhindered access for the UN and other agencies to provide humanitarian assistance (Even here, discrepancies have been witnessed, but time will tell);
Prohibit, Afghanistan’s territory for being used by terrorist organizations and their affiliates to threaten or attack any country or to shelter or train terrorist to plan or finance terrorism (This of course, stems from a sense of Naivety that a terrorist organization, where 17 out of 33 of its cabinet members are on the UN Sanction List and/or on the US Black List, with the assumption of power and possession of a political space, can change its political religious ideology and discourse); and
Another important facet of external legitimacy, which has been negated is that External Legitimacy is a manifestation of Internal legitimacy, which in this case, revolves around the acceptance of the living democratic constitution of Afghanistan.
My Friends,
At this juncture, before giving you some of the premises as food for thought, let me say this:
Contrary to our American friends’ use of this famous slogan that Americas Long War Has Ended, let me say to you, that the World’s Most Complex War-War Against Global Terrorism Has Just Began.
The following premises shall underline my claim.
Premise One-Today’s Struggle is the West against the Taliban and their terrorist affiliates and those states that either sponsor terrorism and/or have ill interests in Afghanistan.
Premise Two- The so called false and bombastic claim to victory by the Taliban against US, EU, and NATO, questions our US, EU and NATO partner’s strength, credibility, and utility in the upcoming future conflicts around the world.
Premise Three-Terrorist Organizations given political and physical space, in this case Taliban overseeing the state structure, having access to money, military weapons, and controlling the territory of Afghanistan, shall embolden other terrorist groups to overthrow other legitimate states, especially those in North Africa.
Premise Four-The so-called victory by the Taliban, shall lead to Home Grown Terrorism around the world.
Premise Five-Emerging Democratic movements and democracies around the world shall become discouraged and distanced from world democracies, because democratic values and human rights and the Republic enshrined in the living constitution of Afghanistan has been ignored.
Premise Six-States that house and espouse terrorist organizations by wanting to deflect their own domestic problems, specifically shift terrorist niches from their territory, will support the creation of terrorist client states.
Premise Seven-Afghanistan once again will become the center of illegal drug production and trade, terror financing, money laundering, and human trafficking being run by a state cartel known as the Taliban as it was witnessed in the late 90s.
Premise Eight-Diplomatic Recognition of a State ran by terrorist figures being on UN Sanction list and US Blacklist, will embolden the terror groups that the world’s political and national interests shall supersede principles of democracy and human rights.
Distinguished Guests,
Friends,
All being said, this time the international community should not back off from their principled approach.
As you may remember, first it was said that no one will engage and recognize any group that takes power by force. Then, it was reiterated that the Emirate System is unacceptable. Thereafter, it was explicitly indicated that the formation of an inclusive government is a must. Lastly, it was said that Human Rights violations are intolerable.
Now that every condition sat by the international community has been obliterated by the Taliban and tolerated by all of us, this must stop.
I plea on behalf of the citizens of my country that we must stand firm and united to not only safeguard our mutual accomplishments of the last 20 years and provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, but for the sake of getting engaged with the Taliban, accept Taliban’s demands, and thus destroy what remains of the aspirations of a proud nation as envisaged in its democratic constitution and Represented by their legitimate diplomatic missions around the world.
Thank you.