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Join on Telegram Rabat – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the Taliban’s takeover in Kabul could create a rise in extremism in Morocco’s diplomatic backyard. The Sahel countries, located on Morocco’s southern borders, have seen an increase in instability amid an ongoing rise in local extremism, Guterres warned.
“I am very worried with what we are witnessing in different parts of the world,” Guterres stated in response to a question from a Chinese journalist at a press conference on Friday, September 10. Guterres linked the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan with extremists across the world. “The fact that in Afghanistan, the Taliban were able to win might embolden other groups in different parts of the world,” the UN Secretary-General stated.
“We have seen several of them, not only congratulating the Taliban, but showing stronger enthusiasm about their own capacity,” Guterres warned. The UN chief specifically highlighted the Sahel region as a particular point of concern.
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“I think we do not have today an effective security mechanism to address the terrorist challenge in the Sahel, so the terrorists have been gaining ground and they must feel emboldened by the present situation,” Guterres highlighted.
The secretary-general called for an “African force with a strong mandate” to fill a regional void as the current “security system that is in place, in my opinion, is not enough to defeat the terrorists.”
The rise of the Taliban alone is not the primary concern, according to the UN chief, as “there are the other dimensions about development, climate change, etcetera, that are also relevant.”
The UN recalled the rapid advances ISIS made in the Middle East as he highlighted that conventional military forces are often unable to stand up to irregular forces fueled by fanatic extremism.
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“When you have a group, even if it is a small group, that is fanaticized, that is ready to die in all circumstances, or even consider death to be a good thing, if that group decides to launch an attack to a country, we are seeing armies unable to face them and melting down and fleeing.”
Guterres appeared to call for a regional peacekeeping force with a mandate to combat extremist militias as they arise. His dire assessment of the local situation appears to be a call for a new consensus on combating extremism in Morocco’s diplomatic backyard.
“I’m very worried with the terrorism,” Guterres told the gathered press. “I’m very worried that many countries are not prepared to fight it. And we need a much stronger, a much stronger unity and solidarity of countries in the fight against terrorism.”
