The Taliban denounce the provisional reimposition of travel sanctions as a “provocation” of the Security Council

Aug. 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Taliban fundamentalist movement has denounced as a “provocation” the provisional reimposition of sanctions against displacement on 13 senior officials of the Afghan regime declared on Friday by the United Nations Security Council due to the inability of its members to reach the necessary consensus to maintain a exemption that was in force.

According to a UN Security Council resolution dated 2011, 135 Taliban officials were subject to sanctions including asset freezes and travel bans. However, 13 of them were exempt from participating in peace talks.

The United States proposed on Thursday to reimpose the travel ban on seven of the 13 Taliban and keep the exemption for another six, but limit their travel only to Qatar, the scene of international peace talks.

Russia and China were against this proposal and proposed instead to maintain exemptions for all 13 officials to go to Russia, China, Qatar and “regional countries”. However, the United Kingdom, France and Ireland spoke out against it after accusing the regime of breaking its promises to improve the lives of women, minorities and other vulnerable populations.

Faced with the inability of the countries to reach an agreement, the exemptions have not been maintained and now the Taliban have accused the UN executive body of using the sanctions as a “pressure tool”.

“If the travel ban is extended, it will create distance instead of promoting dialogue and engagement, an outcome that must be avoided,” Taliban foreign spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said.

“The member states of the United Nations Security Council,” he added, “should know that some intolerant Western circles are deliberately trying to create distance between Afghanistan and the world, and are causing the Afghans to adopt, in response, a severe that does not benefit anyone”, as he has made known on his Twitter account.

The Security Council could meet this coming Monday for a second meeting in which its members will try to reach a new consensus on this issue. If they fail, the ban could last another three months.