Members of the United Nations Security Council remained divided Monday overwhether to exempt some of Afghanistanlink Talibanlink officialslink from a travellink ban link,diplomatic sources said.
Under a 2011 Security Council resolution, 135 Talibanlink leaders are subject to a sanctionsregime that includes asset freezes and travellink bans.
Thirteen of them benefited from an exemption from the travellink ban link,renewed regularly, to allow them to meet officialslink from other countries abroad.
But this exemption ended last Friday, after Ireland objected to itsautomatic renewal for another month.
In June, the Sanctions Committee in charge of Afghanistanlink, comprised of the SecurityCouncil’s 15 members, had already removed from the exemptions list twoTaliban link ministers responsible foreducation, in retaliation for the drastic reduction in the rights of womenand girls that was imposed by the hardline Islamist regime.
Several Western countries would like to further reduce the list, accordingto diplomatic sources.
They highlight the failure to respect the commitments to uphold humanrights or fight terrorism that were made by the Talibanlink when they returned to power a yearago.
Early this month the United States announced the killing of Al-Qaeda leaderAyman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike on Kabul, calling into question theTaliban link promise not to harbormilitant groups.
China and Russia, however, supported a regular extension of exemptions list.
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“These exemptions are still just as necessary,” the Chinese presidency ofthe Security Council said last week, deeming it “counterproductive” to linkhuman rights to travel link issues forTaliban link officialslink.
Since last week, and again Monday, several compromise proposals that wouldmore or less shrink the list of officialslink concerned, or the number ofauthorized destinations, have been rejected on both sides, according todiplomatic sources.
Discussions are expected to continue.
Pending a possible decision, none of the Talibanlink officialslink on the sanctions list can travellink.
That was of particular concern to the Talibanlink foreign minister, Amir KhanMuttaqi, who has visited Qatar several times in recent months fordiplomatic discussions and who was among the 13 exemptions.
In a statement posted Saturday on Twitter, a foreign ministry spokesmancalled on the Security Council “not to use sanctions as pressure tool” andsaid all sanctions against Taliban linkofficials link should be lifted.
“If the travel link banlink is extended, it will create distanceinstead of promoting dialogue & engagement, an outcome that must beprevented,” the spokesman said. – APP/AFP
