In December 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. In order to expel the Soviet Union from the country, rebel fighters joined forces to form several guerrilla groups known as the Mujahideen ('those engaged in jihad' in Arabic). These groups received funds from the United States and Saudi Arabia. Once they managed to force the exit of the Soviet Union, a civil war among different sections seeking power in Afghanistan ensued, until the Taliban arose as the victorious faction that took power over most of the territory of Afghanistan during the second half of the 1990s.1 The Taliban implemented a form of authoritarian government that followed a strict interpretation of Sharia perpetrating gross and serious violations of human rights against its own population. This attracted worldwide condemnation and only three States recognised the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. On 11 September 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamist extremist group Al-Qaeda conducted terrorist attacks against several targets in the United States, killing around 3000 persons. The leader of Al-Qaeda, Obama bin Laden, was living in Afghanistan at the time and the Taliban refused to hand him over to the United States. This precipitated a military attack of the United States in Afghanistan on the basis of the 'inability and/or unwillingness' of the Taliban to eradicate terrorism within their 1 You can learn more about the Taliban watching this short video from Al-Jazeera, 'Who are the Taliban' Al-Jazeera English (9 minutes) (20 May 2021) available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecUchA2NsB8 (accessed on 20 October 2021) territory. The Taliban and Al-Qaeda members were treated as the same enemy and several Taliban leaders were arrested in the infamous Guantanamo Bay. The Taliban continued their fight to liberate their territory from foreign troops and they recovered control over the territory of Afghanistan in August 2021. When the Taliban took over Kabul, until then President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan and the Taliban announced the establishment of a new government on 7 September. Since then, they have sought recognition as the effective government of Afghanistan. By November 2021, no country had formally recognised the Taliban as government of Afghanistan. For instance, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared, in September 2021 that Russia was not considering the recognition of the Taliban.2 A few weeks earlier, the United Kingdom Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, called on other states not to recognise the Taliban as government without an international agreement to be reached using institutional fora such as the United Nations and NATO.3 The European Union has also declared it was not recognising the Taliban4 By the end of October 2021, the United Nations had not accredited the Taliban as the representative of Afghanistan before the United Nations Organisation either. In June 2021, ambassador Ghulam Isaczai was appointed Afghanistan's permanent representative to the United Nations by then President Ashraf Ghani. Since the Taliban took Kabul, they have been lobbying to replace the former representative with their own. Finally, no one spoke on behalf of Afghanistan during the 2021 General Assembly meeting. However, some States have shown willingness to engaging with the Taliban. For instance, the President of Uzbekistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reportedly made the following statement, in September 2021: A new reality has emerged in [Afghanistan], new people have come to power. This is a fait accompli. That being the case, it is necessary to develop a coordinated approach to the situation in Afghanistan, as well as to develop dialogue with the new authorities.

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