"I think we've missed, we've missed some opportunities to engage further," Griffith, who holds the humanitarian affairs portfolio and is emergency relief coordinator, said on Tuesday.
"I think that's a sure way to engage with them, considering the horrific orders," he said.
"We have not been able to work out a formula that would allow us to have an all-out engagement with the Taliban," he said.
A focus on investment and the economy will provide entry into Afghanistan, he said, and it is "up to key member states to take this forward".
Griffiths said he hoped the UN-hosted meeting in Doha on June 30 would set the agenda for coordinating the international approach to Afghanistan.When the Taliban took power in 2021 after the United States withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, "we had some expectations, we actually had some written commitments", he said.
“And those hopes have been dashed. There have been fatwas one after another against women and girls,” she said of Taliban orders against girls working outside the home and women’s education.
“This is the culmination of 20 years of lost opportunities,” he said.
Griffiths, who is leaving the United Nations at the end of this month after more than 30 years of humanitarian work, said the world is worse off now than when he started.“God knows it's a bad world,” he said, noting that violence and humanitarian disasters continue with impunity despite Security Council resolutions.
Although the United Nations was founded to end "the scourge of war", he said, "we are not winning by ending conflict".
“This is essentially because the focus and commitment to the use of dialogue and negotiation to end conflict is a characteristic, an ideal, a commitment that is no longer an essential component of international diplomacy”, he said.
At the same time, he saw hope for humanity in the basic kindness seen among the poor, for example, when poor people shared their meager food resources with refugees.
"I think that's a sure way to engage with them, considering the horrific orders," he said.
"We have not been able to work out a formula that would allow us to have an all-out engagement with the Taliban," he said.
A focus on investment and the economy will provide entry into Afghanistan, he said, and it is "up to key member states to take this forward".
Griffiths said he hoped the UN-hosted meeting in Doha on June 30 would set the agenda for coordinating the international approach to Afghanistan.When the Taliban took power in 2021 after the United States withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, "we had some expectations, we actually had some written commitments", he said.
“And those hopes have been dashed. There have been fatwas one after another against women and girls,” she said of Taliban orders against girls working outside the home and women’s education.
“This is the culmination of 20 years of lost opportunities,” he said.
Griffiths, who is leaving the United Nations at the end of this month after more than 30 years of humanitarian work, said the world is worse off now than when he started.“God knows it's a bad world,” he said, noting that violence and humanitarian disasters continue with impunity despite Security Council resolutions.
Although the United Nations was founded to end "the scourge of war", he said, "we are not winning by ending conflict".
“This is essentially because the focus and commitment to the use of dialogue and negotiation to end conflict is a characteristic, an ideal, a commitment that is no longer an essential component of international diplomacy”, he said.
At the same time, he saw hope for humanity in the basic kindness seen among the poor, for example, when poor people shared their meager food resources with refugees.
