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UN Security Council Adopts Further Sanctions Against Taliban
The United Nations Security Council Tuesday, December 19, decided to impose further sanctions against Afghanistan's warring party the Taliban which includes arms embargo, tightening of an existing flight embargo and a freeze on the Taliban's assets abroad.
In its resolution which was adopted with 13 in favor and two abstentions, the Security Council urged the Taliban, the biggest warring party in the country, to hand over Osama bin Laden, charged by the United States with plotting the August 1998 bombings of the two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and to cease the provision of sanctuary and training for international terrorists and their organizations.
The Security Council said the bans would go into effect one month after the resolution is adopted if the Taliban failed to comply with UN resolution 1267 of 1999.
The council said the further sanctions are established for 12 months, and at the end of this period, it will decide whether to extend these measures for a further period with the same sanctions.
UN resolution 1267 was adopted in October 1999 to urge the Taliban to hand over bin Laden immediately and to close terrorist training camps in the territory under its control.
The United Nations is concerned about the backlash of the further sanctions. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at Tuesday's year-end press conference that the measures would hinder the peace process and relief aid in the country. The United Nations has pulled all its aid workers out of the country.
A year ago, the Security Council froze the Taliban's assets and imposed an air embargo in the Taliban-run Ariana Airlines to force it to hand over bin Laden. Responding to the sanctions, an angry mob attacked a UN agency in Kabul in retaliation.
The Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden, saying that the United States had offered them no proof of his involvement in the bombings which killed at least 225 people and wounded more than 4,000.
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