UN’s Afghanistan mandate extended by Security Council

The UN Security Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution extending the UN political mission in Afghanistan.

The technical resolution renews the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) for one year.

It asks the UNAMA to provide assistance to Afghanistan with elections, connectivity, regional cooperation, security, anti-narcotics and reconstruction, promote partnership on connectivity, and welcome joint efforts to enhance dialogue and collaboration and to advance shared goals of economic development across the region.

The resolution also stresses the importance of supporting capacity building by the Afghan government on security to maintain stability and combat terrorism.

Zhang Jun, permanent representative of China to the UN, said in an explanatory statement:

"China is glad to see the unanimous adoption by the Council of the resolution on a technical renewal of the mandate of UNAMA. The result meets the expectation of the Afghan people and enables UNAMA to continue doing its job. It has also accommodated the concerns of all parties."

"As a direct neighbor, China most wants to see peace, stability, development and prosperity in Afghanistan. China cares most about the interests and well-being of the Afghan people," the ambassador said.

Thinking of Afghanistan's position, Zhang emphasized "China believes that to achieve lasting peace, economic development must be boosted; to achieve security and stability, the country's security concerns must be addressed; to maintain unity of the Security Council, existing consensus must be respected."

Zhang said that China has been emphasizing that it is not a good time to adopt a comprehensive resolution; technical renewal is the way.

China took part in the consultations on extending the mandate of UNAMA and proposed revisions.

"To China's regret, a few countries refused to keep the text of consensus previously agreed and refused to accommodate the core concerns of the parties. The draft also failed to address possible security vacuum in Afghanistan. All this led to serious division among the parties," Zhang told the council.

"The argument that supporting Afghanistan in taking part in regional cooperation and promoting connectivity is unrelated to the mandate of UNAMA is a complete misunderstanding of UNAMA's mission," he said.

"China welcomes the fact that the relevant parties have then come back to the track of consultation in seeking a solution and reached consensus on a technical renewal of the mandate," he added.

Zhang said that it must be pointed out that helping the Afghan economy is vital to achieving lasting peace and stability in the country. "That is what the Afghan people want, and no country has the right to deny them a better life," he said.

He said that China supports Afghanistan in holding a general election, advancing peace and the reconciliation process and strengthening capacity-building of the Afghan security forces.