WASHINGTON (AA): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the international community on Monday to stand united in ensuring Afghanistan does not again become a terrorist safe haven in which human rights are trampled.
“I appeal to the Security Council – and the international community as a whole – to stand together, work together and act together – and use all tools at its disposal to suppress the global terrorist threat in Afghanistan and guarantee that basic human rights will be respected,” Guterres told the Security Council.
“Regardless of who holds power, these two fundamental principles — in which our world has such a deep and abiding interest — must be upheld,” he added.
The stark warning comes after the Taliban laid claim to the capital Kabul, where thousands of people who fled the group’s offensive elsewhere in the country had sought refuge.
Ghulam Isaczai, Afghanistan’s envoy to the UN, warned that Kabul’s residents “are living in absolute fear right now.”
“Kabul residents are reporting the Taliban have already started house-to-house searches in some neighborhoods, registering names and looking for people on their target list,” he said. “There are already reports of targeted killings and looting in the city.”
