The UN has apologized after staff took photos under Taliban flags during a visit to Afghanistan.
“We are aware of this photo taken when the Deputy Secretary-General met the de facto leaders in Afghanistan,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, told Fox News Digital. “Your security had brought you to this meeting and was waiting next door.”
“The photo should never have been taken,” stressed Dujarric. “It was a mistake and we apologize for it.”
The images first surfaced on social media on Thursday evening and showed UN staff in Kabul taking a picture under Taliban flags.
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Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammad, the most senior United Nations official, had visited Afghanistan to raise concerns about women’s rights in the country — particularly access to higher education and restrictions on women in the workplace.
The delegation is the oldest group of officials to visit the country since the Taliban took power in 2021.
Mohammad attempted to speak to senior Taliban leaders to persuade them to reverse the direction of restrictions, which the BBC said have jeopardized humanitarian operations by preventing women from attending.
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Ali Maisam Nazary, head of foreign relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, published the photos and denounced them as “insensitive”.
“UN staff in Kabul taking a picture with a terrorist group’s flag questions the impartiality and integrity of the United Nations,” Nazary wrote. “We kindly request Antonio Guterres to investigate this matter and to ask UNAMA News to prevent such insensitive actions which may damage their reputation.”
Acting Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi meets with UN delegates in Kabul, Afghanistan, in this screenshot from a video released Jan. 18, 2023. (Taliban Foreign Ministry/Handout via Portal)
Nazary separately told Fox News Digital that the photos were “unfortunate,” and reiterated concerns about the UN’s impartiality and integrity.
“This is because the Taliban terrorists allow Afghanistan to become a center of international terrorism and increase their repression of citizens, especially women,” Nazary said. “Such acts cause us to question the impartiality and integrity of the UN in Afghanistan, and we ask Secretary-General Guterres to investigate this matter and prevent any biased actions by UN personnel visiting Afghanistan in the future.”
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Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban’s elected representative to the United Nations and former Taliban spokesman, told Fox News Digital that the words on the Taliban flag belong to “Muslims around the world.”
Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, speaks during a joint press conference in Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Semlianichenko, Pool, File)
“The words written on the white cloth are words that Muslims around the world believe in, i.e. there is no god but Allah, Mohammad (pbuh) is the Prophet of Allah,” Shaheen said. “It belongs to all Muslims, not to one nation or government.”
“Anyone who doesn’t believe that these are called Muslims or says anything against it is committing blasphemy,” he added.
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The UN delegation met with Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who stressed the need for international recognition to strengthen the government and the lifting of sanctions that limit government funding.
Fox News’ Chris Massaro contributed to this article.
Peter Aitken is a reporter at Fox News Digital specializing in national and global news.