The Taliban denounced the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) failure to extend travel ban waivers for 13 Taliban officials, warning “bigoted Western circles” that distancing Afghanistan from the international community is “provoking Afghans to take a stern stance,” which it said is “not in the interest of anyone.”
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi thus urged the UNSC against using “sanctions as a tool of pressure.”
Russia and China support the waiver while the United States (US) and other Western allies have called for the waiver to be given to only six of the 13 officials
IEA MoFA calls on UNSC not to use sanctions as pressure tool.
— Abdul Qahar Balkhi (@QaharBalkhi) August 20, 2022
It was agreed in the Doha Agreement that all sanctions shall be removed from IEA leadership, a clause that should be implemented in full. pic.twitter.com/EXzXXCVtCw
According to diplomatic sources cited by The Hindu, the US presented its proposal to Russia and China and called for the number of officials benefitting from the waiver to be reduced to six over the group’s failure to adhere to international standards for freedom and rights. In fact, the US initially said the six should only be allowed to travel to Qatar for security talks with Western countries.
In contrast, Russia and China insist that the UNSC should extend the waiver for 90 days and the Taliban’s leaders should be allowed to travel to “regional countries” like Qatar, China, and Russia.
A spokesperson at the Chinese mission in the UN warned that linking the travel bans with the Taliban’s commitment to human rights would be “counterproductive” and shows that the UNSC members “have learned no lessons at all.”
Thereafter, on Friday afternoon, the US modified the proposal to allow six officials to travel without geographical limits but continue to bar the seven others from international travel. Russia and China are considering the American proposal. However, the waiver expired on Friday and the travel ban will be reinstated against the 13 officials until the UNSC reaches a consensus.
& are provoking Afghans to take a stern stance in response which is not in the interest of anyone.
— Abdul Qahar Balkhi (@QaharBalkhi) August 20, 2022
An Afghanistan where US, NATO & fifty nations with full strength failed to establish peace & stability, today's security & stability therein is in the interest of the whole world.
Earlier this month, several leading Afghan embassies wrote a letter to the Taliban criticising the group for failing to deliver on their promises in the past year. They also urged the international community to “reinforce the UN travel ban,” arguing that the waiver was being misused.
135 Taliban leaders have been under sanctions since the 2011 UN Security Council resolution that imposed travel bans, asset freezes, and arms embargoes. As an exception to the sanctions, 15 representatives of the group were allowed to travel to participate in peace talks by former US President Donald Trump’s administration.
To prevent Afghanistan’s human rights crisis from spiralling further, the international community must take meaningful action to hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes 👇 https://t.co/hFu2r1kWCR
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) August 15, 2022
The UNSC has been using the sanctions to disincentivise the Taliban from introducing rules that curb Afghans’ rights and freedoms. For instance, in retaliation to the restriction on women’s education, the waiver was not extended to acting Deputy Education Minister Said Ahmad Shaidkhel and interim Minister of Higher Education Abdul Baqi Haqqani after it expired in June this year.
The travel ban on the other 13 officials remained waived until it expired again on Friday.
Lifting the sanctions was a critical part of the US-Taliban Doha Agreement signed in 2020, which also required the Taliban to protect certain inalienable rights and freedoms and end violence in the country.
According to a report by the UN’s mission in Afghanistan, over 700 have died and 1,400 have been injured since the Taliban’s takeover in August. Moreover, at least 59% of people in Afghanistan are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, up six million since the beginning of 2021.