UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced Wednesday (March 17th) appointing French diplomat Jean Arnault as special envoy for Afghanistan and the surrounding region, in anticipation of peace talks to be held this week in Moscow.
Read also: In Afghanistan, the Taliban are negotiating their return to power
The head of the United Nations asked Jean Arnault to help find
"a political solution to the conflict"
, by working closely with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, led by the Canadian Deborah Lyons, and the partners regional, he said in a statement.
The appointment of the French diplomat
"reflects the continued commitment of the United Nations in favor of the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan,"
said UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
New start
Jean Arnault was successively head of the United Nations mission in Colombia (2015-2018) and UN special envoy for Bolivia (2019-2020), but also carried out missions in Afghanistan.
The appointment of a European to the post of UN special envoy for Afghanistan comes on the eve of the opening of talks in Moscow, which are supposed to breathe new life into the peace process.
Read also: War in Afghanistan: eighteen years of failure
US President Joe Biden must decide whether or not to confirm the total withdrawal by May 1 of US troops still deployed in Afghanistan, in accordance with the agreement signed in February 2020 in Doha with the insurgents.
In return, the Taliban had pledged to participate in peace talks with the Afghan government, which began in September in the Qatari capital, but have so far not resulted in any significant progress, amid violence. still raging on the ground.
Moscow has invited representatives from the United States, Pakistan and China to these new talks.
At the request of the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, Turkey must also organize in April under the aegis of the UN an international ministerial session bringing together the United States, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Iran.
Brussels is not one of the expected guests.
