Manizha Bakhtari is on a mission to show that resisting the Taliban doesn’t mean “wanting a war” again in her home country. As the last serving female ambassador from Afghanistan anywhere in the world, she is at the forefront of efforts to deny the Islamist group the international recognition it badly craves.
The UN still refuses to recognise the legitimacy of the Taliban regime in Kabul, in place since Nato forces withdrew from the country and the last democratically elected government collapsed in August 2021. Individual countries are following the UN’s lead, but many now host Afghan diplomatic missions led by Taliban appointees, often out of practicality rather than ideology.
