Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- At the next session of the UN General Assembly, the resolution "On situation in Afghanistan" was approved by the majority of votes of member states (130 states, including Uzbekistan).

The experts highlight the following key points of the document: 1) support for the advancement of an inclusive peace process led and with the direct participation of the Afghans themselves; 2) non-recognition of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" and a categorical position regarding its restoration on the territory of the IRA; 3) recognition of the Afghan government as a legitimate government in Afghanistan and support for further democratic development of the country; 4) commitment to long-term cooperation with the government of the country, incl. in training, equipping, financing and building the capacity of the Afghan security forces; 5) concern about the threat of terrorism in Afghanistan in the context of the continued presence of Al-Qaeda, ISIS and other international terrorist organizations and groups.

Commenting on the voting process on the resolution, observers draw attention to the fact that for the third year in a row the world community has failed to reach a consensus in adopting a document on Afghanistan. So, including key countries in the Afghan settlement did not support the adoption of the document: Russia opposed, China, Pakistan, Belarus abstained from voting. At the same time, 59 countries did not vote.

The Deputy Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, A. Evstigneeva, criticized the adopted resolution, noting that its drafters "demonstratively ignore the efforts of the states directly involved in the Afghan settlement and belittle the role of regional organizations, in particular the SCO and the CSTO." Moreover, "against the background of information about the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, this is an attempt to hide the true scale" of threats from ISIS and drug trafficking, "threatening the security of the IRA itself and the Central Asian countries."

It is noteworthy that Russia in 2018 and 2019 abstained from voting on the Afghan resolution with similar wording on "ignoring the real scale of the threat of ISIS and drugs in Afghanistan", despite the fact that the document from 2018 welcomed the role of the CSTO in "ensuring peace and prosperity in Afghanistan."

In this context, according to experts, the current position of the Russian Federation is due to the fact that Moscow seeks:

First, to demonstrate a categorical attitude towards the forced withdrawal of US troops. For example, Russian analysts believe that Washington, in an attempt to justify an accelerated withdrawal of troops, is making efforts to soften the international position in relation to TD by excluding the definition of the Taliban as a terrorist organization in the texts of UN resolutions. Earlier, the Russian Federation advocated the inclusion of this wording when mentioning the Taliban Movement.

Secondly, to establish a dialogue in the Afghan direction with Washington in conditions of a freeze in interaction on most issues of international importance. At the same time, the Kremlin expresses its dissatisfaction with the forced withdrawal of the US contingent from Afghanistan without consultations and potentially threatening the stability of the southern borders of the Russian "sphere of influence" - Central Asia in the context of the growing terrorist threat in Afghanistan.

In turn, according to the representative of the PRC to the UN Yao Shaojun, the Chinese delegation did not support the resolution due to the fact that "this version of the document does not reflect the efforts and contribution" of regional countries to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan. It should be noted that in 2018 and 2019. China did not object or abstain from voting on the UNGA resolution on the IRA.

In this regard, experts point out that such a position of the PRC is due to dissatisfaction with the United States, which, starting in 2019, have been trying to remove from the texts of UN documents references to the OBOR initiative, which is regarded as a threat to American interests.

So, starting in 2019, Washington is seeking to exclude One Belt, One Road (OBOR) from the text of resolutions on the extension of the mandate of the UN Mission in Afghanistan, indirectly accusing Beijing of "promoting national political priorities." It should be noted that in identical resolutions from 2016 to 2018. efforts to strengthen regional cooperation through OBOR were welcomed. Subsequently, the mention of the OBOR initiative was replaced by the wording “regional cooperation for regional development is welcomed”.

In general, the UN General Assembly resolution on Afghanistan expresses the position of the majority of the UN member states on a number of key issues, including the peace process and the future development of the country. Nevertheless, the refusal to support the adoption of the document by key countries demonstrates: 1) lack of consensus due to different interests and approaches; 2) continued rivalry in the Afghan direction.