Staff Correspondent:
The post was supposed to be filled by Afghanistan in alphabetical order, but there are complications in doing so as no member state has recognized the Taliban government The new secretary general of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) will be from Bangladesh for a three-year tenure.Other member states have already agreed to this, Foreign Ministry officials said. The current and 14th secretary general, Esala Ruwan Weerakoon of Sri Lanka, ends his tenure on February 28. After the expiry of the term, the post was supposed to be filled by Afghanistan in alphabetical order. But due to the unstable political situation in that country, other member states agreed to appoint a secretary general from Bangladesh.According to a highly-placed source, India, Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka have already consented to appoint a Bangladeshi for the post.Saarc was established at the initiative of Bangladesh in 1985. The Saarc Secretariat is in Kathmandu, Nepal. The first Secretary General of Saarc was Abul Ahsan of Bangladesh, who served from 1987 to 1989. The regional economic and political organization has remained dysfunctional since 2016, when India expressed unwillingness to join the 19th summit in Islamabad, Pakistan, after terrorist attacks on Indian army camps. The previous summit had been held in Kathmandu in 2014.Why not from Afghanistan?
In 2021, the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. No country has recognized that government so far. As a result, Afghanistan is not invited to any Saarc meeting. In this context, there is a complication in appointing a secretary general from the country. Nepal, the current chair of Saarc, took the initiative to appoint a secretary general from Bangladesh, sidelining Afghanistan. Nepal argued that since no country has recognized the Taliban government, there are complications in appointing a secretary general from Afghanistan.According to another source, Nepal was able to convince everyone and other countries accepted the matter.
Nomination procedureUsually a senior official or former diplomat is appointed secretary general. Now the government will appoint a person subject to the prime minister’s approval, and the Saarc Secretariat will be informed about the nomination, a senior official at the Foreign Ministry said. There is no need to take the opinion or approval of other countries. Whoever Bangladesh appoints will be the next secretary general.“When the term of the Bangladeshi secretary general ends, if the problems in Afghanistan are resolved, the new secretary general will be from Afghanistan, not from Bhutan,” the official added.

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