49th Session UNHRC: Intervention by Ms. Yoana Barakova (Senior Research Analyst EFSAS)
07-03-2022, Geneva (Virtual)
Text and video of Ms. Yoana Barakova's Intervention on Item 2: Interactive dialogue on the report of the High Commissioner on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan during the 49th Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Video of Ms. Yoana Barakova's Intervention on Item 2 during the 49th Session of the UNHRC
"Mr. President,
The US, in its tearing hurry to leave Afghanistan, has set a very dangerous precedent by accepting and legitimizing a terrorist organization.
Amidst the debate and speculation over whether the new Taliban dispensation will be more moderate than the last destructive one that ruled Afghanistan, the role that Pakistan played in shaping both the radical ideas of the Taliban in religious seminaries and the fate of the terrorist group through steadfast support to its violent ways, is being swept under the carpet.
As the dark shadow of a brutal Taliban regime looms over Afghanistan along with the ensuing humanitarian crisis, the UN would do well to take a moment to imagine what Afghanistan could have looked like had Pakistan not kept the Taliban afloat, well oiled, and well-armed.
Mr. President,
Simply put, without Pakistan there would be no Taliban.
Pakistan did all that it did to support, sponsor and sustain terrorism only because it was allowed to do so.
If terrorists holding guns are vile, those egging them on to kill and be killed, can certainly be no better or no less damaging.
The recognition that the bigger problem than the Taliban was its benefactor, Pakistan, ought to have come and been acted upon in the past two decades.
It sadly never did.
It is about time that countries supporting terrorism, especially those that are members of this august Council, are made to face tangible, punitive consequences, and are designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism.
Thank you".
