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The United Nations has thrown open the doors of its annual climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, to the Taliban — the very group that seized Afghanistan through violence and now rules with an iron fist.

For the first time since their takeover in 2021, the Taliban regime will be welcomed at this global conference, COP29, where world leaders will gather to discuss supposedly urgent climate issues. 

The Taliban’s bid to attend previous UN climate summits was repeatedly shut down, but this year, Azerbaijan extended the invitation with the UN’s backing.

While the Taliban have been trying to attend these events for years, using environmental issues as a way to gain entry — and international money — their sudden inclusion in COP29 looks suspiciously like a UN endorsement of their rule.

Officials from the Taliban’s National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) argue that climate change should be treated as an apolitical, “humanitarian subject,” with NEPA's deputy head Zainulabedin Abid telling news agencies Reuters and the AP that “politics shouldn’t interfere.”

The Taliban regime has systematically dismantled women's rights, forced girls out of schools, stripped countless Afghans of their freedoms, kidnapped and murdered dissidents, and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Western soldiers during Operation Enduring Freedom from 2001-2021.

Allowing the Taliban a global platform like COP29 sends a clear message that the UN is willing to look the other way on human rights if it serves their agenda — that global governance under the guise of climate change is more important than human rights.