United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has unnecessarily lowered his stature through his seemingly off the cuff remarks that he reportedly made at a UN emergency meeting after the Taliban took control of Kabul. According to him, the world must combat the "global terrorist threat in Afghanistan". He urged nations to "use all tools at its disposal to suppress the global terrorist threat in Afghanistan and to guarantee that basic human rights will be respected." Unsurprisingly, the United States reiterated Guterres' call during the meeting.

It is quite unfortunate that a person who heads world's only truly universal global organisation is bereft of sound understanding of the Afghan situation. How can he ignore the fact that the Taliban have changed ideologically in terms of their approach to women, minorities and human rights; they've also changed in terms of using communication mechanisms? They no longer constitute a global threat to world's peace.

Umar Khan (Islamabad)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021