A Russian official told Turtle Bay today that his government will
not remove Taliban militants from a U.N. list of individuals once suspected of
engaging in terrorist activities, thwarting U.S. and U.N. aims to entice
so-called moderate Taliban to make peace or switch sides in the Afghan war and
support the Western-backed government of Hamid
Karzai.
"Our position hasn't changed and we can say we are against the delisting of the
Taliban," Ruslan Bakhtin, a spokesman
for the Russian mission to the United Nations, said in a interview. "It
continues to be a terrorist organization and it continues to carry out
terrorist activities on Afghan soil." [UPDATE: Russia is now moving to delist five former Taliban officials.]
Afghanistan and the United Nations have been appealing to the U.N. Security
Council in recent weeks to lift sanctions on a handful of Taliban officials who
are committed to renouncing violence. The move, which is backed by the United
States, is viewed by Kai Eide, the U.N.'s
top envoy in Afghanistan, as a critical first
step toward opening the door to political talks with the Taliban.
Earlier this month, Afghanistan's U.N. ambassador Zahir Tanin called directly on the 15-nation U.N. Security Council
to delist Taliban combatants who are "willing to renounce violence and join the
peace process."
For years, Moscow has opposed U.S. and European attempts to reward
NATO-friendly former Taliban militants by easing sanctions on them. In 2007,
Russian blocked an effort by the United
States and the Dutch to delist Karzai's governor of Uruzgan, Abdul Hakim Monib, a former deputy
minister of frontier affairs in the prior Taliban government who was said to be
a critical asset in the U.S.- led war on terror.
As I reported at the time:
The U.N. Security Council first imposed sanctions on the Taliban in October
1999 for providing a safe haven to Osama bin Laden and for refusing to
surrender him to face trial in New York for masterminding the August 1998
bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa. Monib and more than 100 other
Taliban leaders were placed on a sanctions list in January 2001, a year before
he broke ranks with the Islamic movement and joined forces with Hamid Karzai,
the Washington-backed president of Afghanistan.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the United States ushered through
resolutions that expanded the list of sanctioned people to suspected al-Qaeda
members. The measures included a travel ban, an arms embargo and a prohibition
on the direct or indirect provision of funds or economic resources to Monib and
489 other people and groups.
But the Security Council has been slow to adjust to the changing political
realities in Afghanistan, where at least 19 former Taliban officials have
reconciled with Karzai's government. It also cannot agree to remove other
people from the list, even after they have died or have convinced the United
States that they should not be considered enemies.
Afghan experts said that they were puzzled by Russia's position, saying that
Moscow has been generally helpful to NATO by allowing overflight access over
their territory. "I don't think it has to do with sticking it to us," said J.
Alexander Thier, an expert on Afghanistan at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He
said it may reflect Russia's traditional support for the Taliban's greatest
Afghan rival, the Northern Alliance. But he said that "would be pure
speculation."
Read More
(1)
HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE