The United Nations is not known for being particularly useful when it comes to addressing human rights issues. It’s a well-earned reputation, and it remains on display when it comes to the Taliban.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared that he was “particularly alarmed” that the Taliban were not keeping their promises to protect human rights in Afghanistan. “I strongly appeal to the Taliban to keep their promises to women and girls and fulfill their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law,” he said.
You can almost hear the laughter from Kabul.
The U.N., much like the State Department, seems shocked to realize that the Taliban are actually still the Taliban. Do the Taliban care whether or not the U.N. is “strongly appealing” to them to do anything? Of course not, especially when the U.N. has made it clear that authoritarian thugs are welcome members on the Human Rights Council, the executive board of U.N. Women, and many other U.N. councils and organizations.
The Taliban know that the United Nations will likely fold on what little resistance it is offering. So, too, will the Biden administration. And even if they didn’t, the Taliban wouldn’t change their behavior. They are the same group of fundamentalist thugs that were run out of power in 2001. They never meant to uphold their “promises,” and they don’t care what Guterres or Secretary of State Antony Blinken wants them to do.
The Taliban do not respond to meek “demands,” “strong appeals,” or strongly worded letters. Those who continue to expect that to work should be embarrassed that they are broadcasting to the world how useless they are. But the United Nations is a bloated bureaucracy that is not capable of feeling shame, and Guterres is content to pretend that his words make a difference when it comes to human rights as long as he can pursue his own economic agenda.
