UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N.’s top envoy for Afghanistan is urging the international community to do everything possible to push the Taliban and the government from the battlefield back to the negotiating table. Deborah Lyons warned that “inertia” and the lack of action might lead to more bloodshed and conflict. She told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that she cannot overstate her concern at the current situation. Lyons said every major trend — politics, security, the peace process, the economy, the humanitarian emergency and tackling COVID-19 — is either “negative or stagnant.” She pointed to increasing Taliban violence over the past year.
