Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities on Saturday criticised the UN Security Council’s plan for a special envoy to promote gender and human rights in the country as “unnecessary”. The Taliban government is not officially recognised by any country or world body, and the United Nations refers to the administration as the “Taliban de facto authorities”. Many are torn over engaging with Kabul’s rulers in a bid to roll back their controls on women and girls, or freezing them out until they make concessions such as reopening educational opportunities for females. On Friday, the United Nations Security C…