Representatives of the Afghan Taliban will attend the United Nations (UN) climate conference, COP29, which opens today in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and will run until November 22. This marks the first time Afghanistan has participated in such an event since the Taliban seized power in 2021.
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As Reuters reports, the conference will be one of the highest-level multilateral events that representatives of the Taliban administration will attend since seizing control of Kabul following a 20-year war with NATO-backed forces.
No UN member state recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, and the United States has designated it a "global terrorist organization."
According to Reuters, representatives from the National Environmental Protection Agency of Afghanistan arrived at the climate change conference by invitation of the host country, Azerbaijan. This allows them to "potentially participate in periphery discussions and potentially hold bilateral meetings." Since the Taliban is not officially recognized as Afghanistan's legitimate government within the UN system, its representatives do not have the authority to engage in the work of full member states, according to a Reuters source.
Reuters notes that Afghanistan is one of the countries most affected by climate change. Floods have killed hundreds this year, and the agriculture-dependent country has endured one of its worst droughts in decades. Some activists criticize the Taliban's international isolation, saying it only harms the Afghan people.
"There is lack of attention, lack of connection with the international community, and then there are increasing humanitarian needs," Habib Mayar, deputy secretary-general of the g7+, an intergovernmental organization of conflict-affected countries, told Reuters.
According to Politico, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will participate in the conference. Also attending will be US President's Senior Adviser on International Climate Policy John Podesta, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Additionally, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, and others will be present. Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze will also attend and, according to the government administration, will deliver a speech at the COP29 leaders' summit and participate in panel discussions.
Those not attending the UN climate conference include US President Joe Biden, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
