The United Nations has issued an apology after some of its employees were photographed under Taliban flags during a visit to the embattled nation of Afghanistan amid a slew of other issues.
In a statement, the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, said that they were aware of the photo taken when the deputy secretary-general was meeting the de facto leaders in the country. He stressed that the photo should never have been taken and sincerely apologized for it.
UN Employees Under Fire
The image was first shared on social media on Thursday night and showed UN personnel in Kabul taking a picture under Taliban flags. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammad, the UN's most senior female official, traveled to Afghanistan to address concerns over women's rights in the country. The effort was made particularly over access to higher education and limits on women in the workplace.
The recent delegation that traveled to the country is the most senior group of officials to visit Afghanistan since the Taliban terrorist group took control of the government in 2021. Mohammad was planning to speak with senior Taliban leaders to convince them to reverse their direction on the restrictions, as per Fox News.
The restrictions have imperiled humanitarian operations in the country since women were not allowed to participate. The head of foreign relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, Ali Maisam Nazary, posted the photos and denounced them as being "insensitive."
He noted that the UN personnel who took the photographs in Kabul under a terrorist group's flag brought the global organization's impartiality and integrity into question. Nazary also requested UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to investigate the issue.
Nazary added that the images came as the Taliban terrorists allowed Afghanistan to become a hub for international terrorism. He accused the group of increasing their oppression of citizens, especially women.
Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan
The situation comes as a top UN official believes that progress is being made toward the reversal of the bans on women and how they can take part in life in their country. According to BBC, the UN deputy secretary-general's visit to the country is scheduled to last four days.
The visit comes after the Taliban terrorist group last month banned all women from working for non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It resulted in many international agencies halting operations. Mohammad, during an interview, said that the senior Taliban officials she had met with were ready to talk about the rights of girls and women in Afghanistan.
However, the UN official noted that discussions were challenging and warned that it could be a very long journey before they can convince the Taliban leaders to take fundamental steps to provide them with the international recognition they are demanding.
The crisis in Afghanistan continues to worsen as authorities reported that 78 people have died in the last nine days amid dropping winter temperatures. A spokesperson for the Taliban's Ministry of Disaster Management, Shafiullah Rahimi, said that on top of the casualties, more than 77,000 livestock froze to death in the last few days, said CNN.
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