Washington
\nMembers of the United Nations Security Council remained divided on Monday over whether to exempt some of Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban officials from a travel ban, diplomatic sources said.
\nUnder a 2011 Security Council resolution, 135 Taliban leaders are subject to a sanctions regime that includes asset freezes and travel bans.
\nThirteen of them benefited from an exemption from the travel ban, renewed regularly, to allow them to meet officials from other countries abroad.
\nBut this exemption ended last Friday, after Ireland objected to its automatic renewal for another month.
\nIn June, the Sanctions Committee in charge of Afghanistan, comprised of the Security Council\u2019s 15 members, had already removed from the exemptions list two Taliban ministers responsible for education, in retaliation for the drastic reduction in the rights of women and girls that was imposed by the hardline regime.
\nSeveral Western countries would like to further reduce the list, according to diplomatic sources.
\nThey highlight the failure to respect the commitments to uphold human rights or fight terrorism that was made by the Taliban when they returned to power a year ago.
\nEarly this month, the United States announced the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike on Kabul, calling into question the Taliban\u2019s promise not to harbour militant groups.
\nChina and Russia, however, supported a regular extension of the exemptions list.
\n\u201cThese exemptions are still just as necessary,\u201d the Chinese presidency of the Security Council said last week, deeming it \u201ccounterproductive\u201d to link human rights to travel issues for Taliban officials.
\nSince last week, and again on Monday, several compromise proposals that would more or less shrink the list of officials concerned or the number of authorised destinations, have been rejected on both sides, according to diplomatic sources.
\nDiscussions are expected to continue.
\nPending a possible decision, none of the Taliban officials on the sanctions list can travel.
\nThat was of particular concern to the Taliban\u2019s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, who has visited Qatar several times in recent months for diplomatic discussions and who was among the 13 exemptions.
\nIn a statement posted Saturday on Twitter, a foreign ministry spokesman called on the Security Council \u201cnot to use sanctions as pressure tool\u201d and said all sanctions against Taliban officials should be lifted.
\n\u201cIf the travel ban is extended, it will create distance instead of promoting dialogue and engagement, an outcome that must be prevented,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington Members of the United Nations Security Council remained divided on Monday over whether to exempt some of Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban officials from a travel ban, diplomatic sources said. Under a 2011 Security Council resolution, 135 Taliban leaders are subject to a sanctions regime that includes asset freezes and travel bans. Thirteen of them benefited from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-279109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n