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UN may slap sanctions on terrorist Taliban

Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi

The United Nations Security Council is likely to adopt a resolution seeking to place economic sanctions on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan for its support to Islamic fundamentalist and terrorist organisations worldwide.

Highly placed sources in the external affairs ministry said Russia intends to move a resolution in the Security Council against the Taliban regime. The resolution will be supported by the United States, also a victim of terrorism in the recent past.

The resolution seeks to impose economic sanctions on the embattled Taliban regime that is currently fighting a bruising war against the Northern Alliance, a front led by former defence minister Ahmed Shah Masood.

The two other Western permanent members of the Security Council -- France and the United Kingdom -- will support the resolution.

The fifth permanent member -- China -- is not expected to vote against the resolution, though it may choose to abstain.

China too, the sources pointed out, is worried by the growth of religious fundamentalism in its westernmost Sinkiang province and was part of the Shanghai Five declaration against terrorism.

India, though not a member of the Security Council, will come out strongly in support of the resolution.

India does not recognise the Taliban regime that now controls most of southern and central Afghanistan, including the capital, Kabul.

The Northern Alliance, which supports ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani, governs a small portion of north Afghanistan. New Delhi recognises the ousted Rabbani government, whose representatives man the Afghan embassy in New Delhi.

Incidentally, the UN General Assembly, which is in session right now, has been adopting strongly worded resolutions condemning the Taliban every year for the past few years, and which India has always supported.

"These resolutions condemn the Taliban on two counts. First, they condemn the Taliban on humanitarian grounds. The areas controlled by the Taliban are wracked by problems and the regime is doing little to alleviate them," the sources said.

"Second, the resolutions criticise the strict policies adopted by the Taliban in the name of Islam that prevents women from studying or working, which impose cruel punishment on suspects and criminals, and for the Taliban's utter disregard for human rights."

But these resolutions have never been translated into action because they have little impact on the Security Council, the most powerful decision-making body in the UN.

A General Assembly resolution cannot be implemented unless the Security Council accepts it. Till then, it is merely advisory in nature.

"But this time, with both Russia and the United States extremely worried about the spread of religious terrorist activities, these two permanent members of the Security Council have decided to take action," the sources added.

Russia has been badly hit by terrorist and separatist violence in recent times. Russian forces are battling separatist guerrillas in Dagestan and Chechnya, Muslim majority regions in southern Russia, while terrorists have carried out bombing attacks in Moscow, the Russian capital. It is the first time after World War II that Muscovites have witnessed bombings.

Besides accusing the Taliban regime of exporting its brand of radical Islam and supporting terrorist groups, the Russians have charged Pakistan with supporting the separatist elements in Dagestan and Chechnya and warned Islamabad to desist from such support.

The Taliban regime is recognised only by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. But with Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden finding refuge among the Taliban, Saudi Arabia has turned away, leaving Islamabad as the sole supporter of the Taliban.

India has often accused the Pakistani Army of sending its troops to support the Taliban forces in the Afghan civil war.

The US too has been extremely worried by the spread of religious terrorism on its soil and had even fired missiles into Afghanistan last year in the hope of killing bin Laden.

While the efficacy of economic sanctions remains hotly debated, it is believed that given the impoverished state of Afghanistan, the sanctions will have an impact.

Moreover, Pakistan is also under sanctions for carrying out nuclear tests in May last year and its economy is too weak for Islamabad to help Afghanistan overcome its economic difficulties.

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