by Dyna Faid
After serving their country for years, Muhammad Naeemi and Luftallah Lufti were prepared to face the fall of their government, making the necessary arrangements to keep the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations open. Unexpected challenges still arose.
It was a bright Monday morning on the 27th floor of a Third Avenue skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. The mood at the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations, that August 16, 2021, was business as usual. Nobody would have thought that the day before Taliban fighters were marching into Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani was fleeing his country.
This violent takeover may have taken the international community by surprise, but the Afghan diplomats working at the United Nations had been preparing for the worst-case scenario for weeks. They had been warning their counterparts about the dangerous and concerning situation in their country, to no avail, as the Taliban fighters were capturing province after province. Watching their country being torn apart on the other side of the world, they became diplomats in exile, representing a government, maybe even a country, that no longer exists
Uncommon but not unprecedented
Even though the current situation in Afghanistan is complex and chaotic, it is not unprecedented. Since its creation, the United Nations has faced the birth and fall of many governments, and has defined clear rules of procedures to deal with the question of diplomatic representation and internationally-recognized authority in times of drastic change. The criteria to be accepted as the legitimate government of a country, however, remain vague.
The Credential Committee, which is composed of 9 countries appointed every September by the UN General Assembly at the beginning of each session, is the only authority that can bring legitimacy to a government. But they have some flexibility when making their recommendation; the only clear requirement is for the new government to be peace-loving and abide by the UN Charter. They have to present a unanimous recommendation to the General Assembly, where all the countries of the world have to vote on it before the end of the year. A new government needs a two-thirds majority to be recognized.
This has led to some inconsistent and controversial rulings. While the People’s Republic of China lost its seat for 22 years when the Communist government came to power in 1949, the General Assembly immediately approved the candidacy of the Libyan National Transitional Council as the legitimate government of the country in 2011. The Credential Committee is currently considering two cases: Myanmar – the United States and China vetoed the Junta government’s credentials after the coup in February 2021 – and Afghanistan. On December 1st, the Credential Committee deferred its recommendation on both Myanmar and Afghanistan to an undisclosed future date.
“This is highly unlikely”, said Luftfullah Lufti, referring to the recognition of the Taliban government by the UN. The First Secretary at the Permanent Mission, and part-time graduate student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, is the main diplomat focusing on legal issues at the Afghan Mission. Even though his area of expertise relates to serious and complex matters, his constant smile and joyful voice bring optimism and light to everything he says.
On that subject, Lufti is adamant: a government that has taken a country by force will not be recognized by the Credential Committee, especially not in the month following the violent takeover. The Committee studying the case of Afghanistan is headed by the representatives of the United States, Russia and China, and would need to find common ground on this delicate and contentious issue. Most importantly, the Taliban government does not appear to be committing to any of the three conditions imposed by the international community for recognition: an inclusive government, the respect of human rights (especially for women), and the rejection of any link to terrorist networks.
Preparing for the worst
Even though the recognition of the Taliban government was not the main concern of the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan last summer, time was still of the essence. According to Ambassador Muhammad Naeemi, Deputy Permanent Representative of Afghanistan, they the diplomats in the mission? needed to be strategic. This career diplomat, who has served his country for decades, representing his government all across the world, was sent to New York in 2019 to help then newly appointed Permanent Representative Ms. Adela Raz navigate the United Nations bureaucracy.
That skill became crucial during the summer of 2021. As the Taliban were capturing provinces and capitals in succession, Naeemi had to navigate the UN diplomatic network to ensure that the credentials of the newly appointed Permanent Representative, Ambassador Isaczai, were accepted by the Secretary General in time. A series of unexpected events complicated this strategy, including: the sudden departure of Secretary General Guterres to his home town on personal business at the end of July 2021; backlog due to the pandemic; and vaccination and physical distance rules. While newly appointed Permanent Representatives usually wait for weeks, if not months, to present their credentials in person to the Secretary General, Naeemi knew that the Taliban were growing stronger. He arranged for Ambassador Isaczai to meet with the Secretary General online, immediately after his appointment. He then made sure the Office of Protocol sent the official announcement to all UN organs and representatives with no delay.
“It was just in time,” he said, with a calm voice.
Two weeks later his government was falling. Ambassador Isaczai is now one of the only Afghan diplomats who can legitimately meet with his counterparts at the UN. But preparing for the worst is one thing; seeing the situation unfold in front of you is another.
“We knew it was happening. But it still took us by surprise that it happened so quickly. My personal expectation was that it would take at least a few weeks for Kabul to fall,” said Lufti.
Just another Monday at the office
“August 15 was a historic day for Afghanistan,” said Naeemi.
But at the Mission, nothing really changed that day.
When he arrived at the office on Monday, August 16, Naeemi knew that his day would be ordinary: his 9 to 5 schedule was already set and he was not planning on changing it. He went to the usual meeting at the Security Council, which that day unsurprisingly focused on the situation in Afghanistan. With the Permanent Representative, he calmly briefed the other Member States, highlighting the critical humanitarian situation and the importance of financial aid. Then, just as every other week, all diplomats of the Mission gathered for a staff meeting. Nothing seemed to phase them when they left the room, talking about the other meetings they had to attend that day. It was just another Monday at the office.
If Naeemi and Lufti were concerned about their respective families, they did not mention it. They were professionals, and their job description was clear: they would represent the interest of their people as best as they could, until they were asked otherwise.
“There was no question at all on whether or not we should work for the Taliban,” Lutfi said. “We know that the takeover of a country by force is not recognized at the international level. We continue to serve our country and work under the flag of Afghanistan, as we did before.”
As they no longer receive directives from Kabul or any other elected member of their government, the diplomats at the Mission, under the guidance of Permanent Representative Isaczai, now focus only on the more pressing issues faced by their compatriots.
“Currently we are focusing mainly on humanitarian assistance to the people in critical situations,” said Naeemi. “More than half of the population are below the poverty line and at risk of hunger, especially as the winter season is approaching. We, at the mission, are working with the international community to help the people and provide them with the necessary resources, to at least protect their lives.”
A very bleak future
But being the representatives of a fallen government comes with some unexpected complications.
“Now the biggest problem that we are facing is financial,” said Lufti.
As the Ghani government in Kabul no longer exists, it is no longer providing new funds to pay rent on the mission’s Midtown offices nor pay its employees. The Consulate of Afghanistan has merged with the Permanent Mission to the UN in their offices on Third Avenue to economize, laying off many of their non-national personnel. The diplomats still working at the Mission have not received salaries for months, as bureaucratic backlog has prevented pay-checks to be processed even before the fall of Kabul. Most of them are unable to pay for housing, insurance or most of their living expenses in New York City, forcing them to relocate and ask for financial help. Lufti, who managed to move into student housing for his last semester of graduate school, is now very concerned about the future.
“The very bleak future has tainted any feeling of success coming from graduating,” he said, his usually smiling face losing its light. “I cannot go back to Afghanistan, but my family is still there and the situation is getting harder every day.”
The exiled diplomats are now trying to find other sources of revenue to help their families. They want to keep serving their country, but also wish to remain safe in the United States. But the logistics of the Mission remain unclear: the diplomats are living day by day, adapting to changes and expecting everything to end at any second. No one knows when the funds available to them will run out and when the Mission will be forced to close.
They are not just concerned about their own future. They are also worried about the future of Afghanistan.
“We have lost decades of progress and achievements,” said Naeemi. “But now we are also losing the experienced and trained people of Afghanistan, who wanted to serve their country and work for a better future. They are now fleeing the country.”
Feeling powerless and exiled, Naeemi does not just regret the past achievements he and his colleagues diligently worked for, and that they have now lost. He longs for the possibility of a prosperous future for the country he used to be proud to call home.