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UN sanctions against Taliban : Welcomed by India

	December 25, 2000

Ignoring protests from aid groups and several countries, including the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, the Security Council has voted to impose tougher sanctions on Taliban. In a 13-nil vote on the resolution co-sponsored by their former rival on Afghanistan, the US and Russia, on which China and Malaysia abstained, the Security Council gave the Taliban militia a month to surrender Osama bin Laden and close terrorist training caps or suffer new sanctions.

While India has welcomed the resolution passed on Dec. 21, UN chief Annan feared it would cause more sufferings to the already impoverished people, Pakistan called it discriminatory, Taliban greeted the resolution with a vow not to give up Osama.

The resolution for which both the US and Russia strongly lobbied with the Security Council members imposes arms embargo on the Taliban, including foreign military assistance purportedly given by Pakistan. The sanctions also require all Taliban offices oversees to be closed and a ban on exposes of acetic anhydride used to manufacture heroin - a bid to deprive the militia of opium revenue. The sanctions will go into effect in one month if Taliban authorities fail to close Afghan terrorist camps and deliver bin Laden to the US or a third country for trial in the 1998 bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The resolution has been passed under chapter VII of the UN charter and mandates all nations to implement it.

In a separate revolution, the UN General Assembly too passed an annual resolution on Afghanistan co-sponsored by 85 nations. The resolution too calls for an end to Pakistan’s intervention in Afghanistan. Pakistan dissociated itself from the resolution, which was adopted without a vote.

The Taliban leaders have refused to hand the Saudi exile over. They also have denied allegation that the camps are used to train Chechen rebels, who are fighting for independence from Russia.

The US and Russia which lobbied hard with the 13 Security Council members who eventually voted for the resolution, argued that the country was a “haven of lawlessness” whose hardline Islamic rulers protect terrorists at home and support terrorism abroad. The Taliban leadership harbours the word’ most wanted terrorist: Osama bin Laden, a high US official at the UN said, stressing that the Saudi exile is but one of many terrorists in the country. They all remain a continuing threat to all, Deputy US ambassador at the UN, Nancy Soderberg, said.

Diplomatic sources say, Pakistan’s isolation on Afghanistan is now complete. Not only did Islamabad facilitate a convergence of interests along Russia, the United States and Iran, but also allowed its arch rival India to gain a role in Afghan diplomacy. It is notable that a clause in the Security Council resolution which calls upon all nations to desist from selling arms to the Taliban or give technical advice, assistance or training related to the military activities of the armed personnel under the control of the Taliban, will directly affect Pakistan. Pakistan has had its advisers stationed in Taliban-held areas. Both Pakistan’s ISI and its soldiers and military advisers have been operating with the Taliban in the past. This will be a severe blow to Pakistan which has been one of the staunchest supporters of the Taliban.

India has a joint working group on terrorism with the US and on Afghanistan with Russia. After the first meeting of the Indo-Russian JWG, the two sides had agreed to tighten sanctions against Kabul.

No wonder, India endorsed the new sanctions on the Taliban Islamic rulers in Afghanistan and termed it as “a vindication of New Delhi’s position.” “We are glad that there is a recognition of our assessment and of the position we have been taking on the issue”, Foreign Office spokesman said. India is happy that Pakistan, which is the principal source of arms, equipment and other support to the Taliban regime, some of which finds place in the hands of foreign terrorists in Kashmir, will now be obliged to end its military intervention in Afghanistan. The Afghan ambassador to India, Masood Khalili, who represents the Northern Alliance opposing the Taliban, has welcomed the move. He was glad that the international community was now “bringing direct pressure on the Taliban and its mentors.

The Taliban which responded by closing a UN mission in the country and vowed to boycott US goods in retaliation, said it would not be forced to surrender Osama Bin laden. The Taliban Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal called the Security Council an enemy of Islam which was using bin laden as an excuse to stop the Taliban’s Islamic movement. The Taliban representative at the UN, Mr. Mujahid described it as a violation of the UN charter and said it would encourage the Northern Alliance rivals to launch more attacks against the Taliban. The Taliban Foreign Minister, Mr. Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel, accused the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, who had actually strongly opposed the resolution, as being an “underling” of the US and Russia. He called Mr. Annan a hypocrite who had done nothing to stop the resolution from being passed. While China opposed fresh sanctions saying it would not produce the desired results, Pakistan has called for resolution to be reconsidered because the fresh UN sanctions would aggravate humanitarian crisis. Its Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said, those pushing for sanctions which would force millions to emigrate or perish, would bear responsibility before history for this avoidable disaster.



Taliban threat to Central Asia

One of the demands made by Russia in the Security Council Resolution was that Taliban wind up the terrorist centres where the Chechen rebels from the former breakaway Muslim majority Russian Republic are being trained. But, the Taliban poses threat of expanding its Islamic revolution to many more Muslim republics in Central Asia bordering Afghanistan. The CIS countries, who are signatories to a Collective Security Treaty, have just approved a plan to set up a regional collective security system to fight trans-border terrorism and drug trafficking originating from Afghanistan. The agreement provides for rushing troops to member-States to resist any foreign military aggression and for carrying out joint anti-terrorism operations.

The spillover of terrorism from Afghanistan has larger geopolitical ramifications. The spread of religious extremism towards Tajikistan and Uzbekistan can destabilize resource-rich Central Asia. This poses alarming security implications for India as well because the consolidation of radicalism in Afghanistan will harden extremist pressures on Kashmir, where a temporary ceasefire is now in operation. India has set up joint working groups on Afghanistan with the US and Russia to coordinate efforts to fight terrorism originating from that country. The cripple effects of the Islamists fanning out in the directions of Central and South Asia are also felt as far as Chechen and Dagestan acutely affecting Russia. China too has felt the impact of the Taliban sponsoring terrorism worldwide and in its Xinjing province where bloody clashes have taken place between the foreign trained Uighur separatists and the PLA. Accordingly, the “Shanghai Five’ including China have expressed serious concern at the developments and vowed to give a joint fight to terrorism.

The Taliban-trained and Pakistan-backed mercenaries from several countries are already fighting the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir and are also setting up bases in Central Asian republics with the object of starting violent fundamentalist movements and overthrown the secular regimes. The CIS collective security forces are on the lookout for such elements crossing over from Afghanistan. These include the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan [IMU] and Hizb-ul-Tahrir, which are active in Uzbekistan and are floating similar organisations in Kazakhstan and Kirgyzstan. Last year, the IMU made an appearance in one district of Kirgyzstan and took hostages, including foreigners. This year, they clashed with the security forces of Uzbekistan and Kirghyzstan at several places, resulting in casualties. The fertile and densely populated Ferghana Valley is becoming a major operational base for the Islamists who take shelter in mosques built with

Saudi money and seek to overthrow the regime and replace it by a fundamentalist one. The developing situation has forced President Karimov to seek India’s assistance in fighting cross-border terrorism.

Faced with a Taliban-backed fundamentalist thrust, the Central Asian States are looking to Russia for support, which it has promised. There are signs of emergence of a security alliance in military terms in Central Asia directed against Afghanistan and its ally, Pakistan.

Pakistan has been recognized as the main backer of the Taliban which is now on the verge of wiping out the Northern Alliance resistance from the five per cent territory they still control on the northern fringes of the country. Winter having set in and the passes now snowbound, a temporary lull has descended on the battle front, which can be broken only next spring when the Taliban, backed by Pakistan army regulars, tanks and artillery, are expected to launch another offensive to devour the whole of Afghanistan.

Islamabad sent 3500 of its troops with equipment into Bayan and Darsu in central Afghanistan to complete the military operations against the Northern Alliance. Pakistan under no circumstances is likely to severe its link with the Taliban. It is worth recalling that Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the present military ruler of Pakistan, was the Commandant of the entire Taliban training programme in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Taliban links with Musharraf, therefore, remain strong despite the fact that the former are behind the anti-Shia violence in Pakistan. The most wanted criminal behind the anti-Shia riots, Raiz Basra of Sipah-e-Sahaba lives in Afghanistan under Taliban protection and conducts his operations from there.

However, there are sufficient indications that if Taliban consolidate their hold on the entire country, they will inevitably turn on Pakistan linking their brand of Islamism with a revived movement for Pakhtoonistan. Ethnic nationalism is part of the crusading religious personality and old loyalties do not always come in the way of new temptation.