United Nations, Aug 31: Russia abstained from voting on the UN Security Council resolution on Afghanistan because the document did not include a passage on terrorism and did not mention the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia), Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said.
On Monday, the 15-member UN Security Council adopted a resolution that expects the Taliban (designated as a terror group and banned in Russia) to allow Afghans and foreigners to safely leave Afg. Russia and China abstained while 13 others voted in favor.
“Despite the fact that the resolution was proposed against the backdrop of a terrible terrorist attack, the authors categorically refused to refer to a passage on the fight against terrorism, containing internationally recognized terrorist organizations ISIL [Islamic State] and the East Turkistan Islamic movement,” Nebenzia said on Monday.
Chinese Deputy Representative to the United Nations Geng Shuang said his country abstained from voting because it had doubts about the balance of the resolution’s content. Nevertheless, China took part in the discussion and together with Russia proposed amendments that were not fully adopted, Geng said.
The diplomat also said China believed the recent terrorist attack at the Kabul airport was directly related to what it believes was a disorderly withdrawal of foreign troops.
“The terrorist attack in Kabul once again proved that the war in Afghanistan did not achieve the goal of eliminating terrorists,” Geng said. “The hasty withdrawal of foreign troops is likely to have provided opportunities for various terrorist organizations to make a comeback.”
On Thursday, several explosions hit the Kabul airport and its outskirts, killing more than 150 people, including 13 American troops. The Islamic State-Khorasan terror group (banned in Russia) claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Washington has admitted its security services’ failure to thwart the terrorist attacks amid a chaotic US evacuation from Afghanistan. The White House confirmed that President Joe Biden gave the US military all the authority needed to carry out attacks against the Islamic State-Khorasan without congressional approval.
(UNI)
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