Taliban say access to climate funds is the right of their people. But experts tell Stuti Mishra that giving them a seat at the table might be seen as legitimising their human rights abuse The Taliban ’s demand for access to global climate finance amid Afghanistan ’s worsening droughts, floods, and food insecurity has sparked a global dilemma: will the hardline regime’s inclusion be seen as legitimising their brutal curbs on women and girls? At the recent Cop29 in Baku, the Taliban delegation attending as observers for the first time since 2021, made their case for a full party status in future climate negotiations and access to international climate funds . “It is the right of our people, who are among the most vulnerable to climate change,” Mutiul Haq Nabi Kheel, the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) chief, tells The Independent . “We should not be invited as guests [in the next COP] but as full participants.” An Afghan man walks near his damaged home after heavy flooding in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan, 11 May 2024 (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) The plea comes as Afghanistan endures relentless climate disasters . Earlier this year, flash floods in Ghor and Badakhshan swept through villages, killing dozens, displacing thousands , and washing away farmland. Prolonged droughts left over 12 million people, nearly a third of the population, facing severe food insecurity. The climate crisis has pushed the country, which contributes less than 0.1 per cent of global emissions, into a devastating cycle of drought, floods, and hunger. The Taliban’s return to the climate stage has sparked a debate on whether the world can deliver aid to Afghanistan without recognising a regime that stands in direct opposition to human rights values. Any participation by the Taliban has led […]
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