UAE accepts credentials from Taliban ambassador

The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared in a press release from Aug. 21 that it had accepted the credentials of Badruddin Maulana as the Ambassador of the Republic of Afghanistan to the UAE.

The UAE now becomes the second country to officially recognize a Taliban ambassador, following on the heels of China, which accepted the credentials of Taliban ambassador Bilal Karimi in January 2024.

The AP has reported that the Taliban ambassador is also known as Badruddin Haqqani, and is a senior member of the Haqqani Network.

The AP specified, and several sources familiar with the Taliban confirmed, that Badruddin is not a relative of the network’s leader, Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani. The Long War Journal’s Bill Roggio reported that Sirajuddin’s brother, also named Badruddin Haqqani, was killed in 2013. Prior to his death, Sirajuddin’s brother had been named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. He had ties to al Qaeda, was thought to be in charge of kidnappings for the Haqqani Network, and was “one of several handlers for the fighters” who led an assault on Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel in June 2011.

Little information is publicly available about Ambassador Haqqani, outside of the announcement that he took charge of the Afghan Embassy in Abu Dhabi in October 2023.

Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary has raised questions about the true nature of Haqqani’s role in the UAE, noting on social media platform X thatHaqqani’s credentials were accepted by a junior official of the UAE, and that the event lacked the fanfare such an event typically rates, as Karimi’s acceptance did.

While the UAE’s move can be seen as a shift in favor of Taliban recognition, pushback against the terror regime continues. On Wednesday, the Taliban banned UN special rapporteur Richard Bennett from traveling to Afghanistan. Bennett hit back with a statement about the harm the Taliban’s move has done to their goal for international recognition.

Bennett wrote, “I have consistently sought to engage transparently with the de facto authorities, offering a critical assessment of the human rights situation in Afghanistan, as is my mandated responsibility, and making concrete, practical recommendations for improvement and offering technical assistance. Where there are differences of view, constructive dialogue is the answer.”

Noting that he had not “travelled to Afghanistan for over a year,” Bennett also wrote that he will “continue to document human rights violations and abuses and advocate for improvements.”

The Taliban may believe that they can conduct their human rights violations in private by keeping international audiences from viewing their atrocities firsthand. Thanks in part to an army of Afghans helping to document those abuses, they are unlikely to succeed.  

Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital, and opinion contributor to the Washington Examiner, and the host of The Afghanistan Project, which takes a deep dive into nearly two decades of war and the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.