ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said the ousted Afghan government’s envoy to the United Nations had no standing after the toppling of President Ashraf Ghani’s regime and his subsequent departure from the country last month.

In an interview with the New York Times this week, Qureshi said that Ambassador Ghulam M. Isaczai’s right to represent Afghanistan at the UN was “not defensible,” urging for the seat to remain vacant for now.

Isaczai remains Afghanistan’s officially recognized UN envoy despite the Taliban’s capture of Kabul in a bloodless siege on August 15 and the group’s return to power after two decades when it was ousted in a US-led invasion in 2001.

“Who is he speaking for?” Qureshi was quoted as saying by the NYT, adding that the former government had “collapsed.”

Last week, in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi requested the global body to allow its Doha-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen to represent Afghanistan at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting from Sept. 14 to 30.

While not endorsing the Taliban’s request for UN representation, Qureshi said that he had seen signs of better stability in Afghanistan since the US’ complete withdrawal from the war-torn country on Aug. 31, ending its 20 years of occupation.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Pakistan Television on Sunday, the Taliban’s main spokesman and its acting Deputy Information Minister, Zabihullah Mujahid, appreciated Pakistan “for supporting its government internationally.”

“Pakistan has demanded from international community to have good relations with Afghanistan, we are grateful to Pakistan for this stance,” he said, adding: “Several countries raise voice for our support, our stance. Russia and China also spoke in support of our government at the UN.”

During his address to the 76th UNGA session last week, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the international community “to preserve the gains made over the past two decades” and prevent Afghanistan from becoming a “safe haven of militant factions.”

“There is only one way to go,” he said. “We must strengthen and stabilize the current [Taliban] government for the sake of the people of Afghanistan.”