KABUL, AFGHANISTAN: The Taliban administration has voiced sharp disappointment after being excluded from the upcoming COP30 climate summit in Brazil, calling the omission unfair for a country facing some of the harshest climate threats in the world.
Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) said the absence of an invitation undermines the principles of climate justice and global cooperation. The agency stressed that despite contributing only a fraction to global emissions, Afghanistan remains deeply exposed to climate-driven disasters that continue to erode its agriculture-dependent economy.
Officials noted that nearly 89 percent of Afghans rely on agriculture or related sectors, making the nation highly sensitive to rising temperatures, drought cycles, flash floods and shifting weather patterns. Yet Afghanistan’s presence at major climate negotiations remains uncertain due to its political isolation, as the Taliban government is still unrecognised by most of the international community.
Last year, Afghan representatives managed to attend the climate talks in Azerbaijan as guests, but this year’s exclusion signals a widening gap between the regime and global diplomatic processes. Without formal recognition, Kabul struggles to secure space in international forums, even when the issues at stake threaten millions of Afghans.
Regional observers say that leaving Afghanistan out of the conversation comes with broader consequences for South and Central Asia, where climate impacts do not respect borders. Coordinated strategies on water, agriculture and disaster preparedness become far harder when an entire country is absent from the negotiating table.
As COP30 approaches, the Taliban’s frustration underscores a lingering question for global climate governance: how to protect vulnerable nations when political legitimacy stands in the way of representation. For ordinary Afghans, the cost of that gap could be measured in lives and livelihoods as climate pressures accelerate.
This story has been reported by PakTribune. All rights reserved.