Taliban not yet out of the woods as UN Security Council exempts sanctions on aid

Members of the UN Security Council on Wednesday voted to allow conditional lifting of sanctions on humanitarian aid delivery in Afghanistan now under the Taliban.

The decision under Resolution 2615/2021 means that aid deliveries can go ahead in spite of Afghanistan being controlled by the Taliban, a group whose members have been sanctioned since 1988, including a ban on relief supplies to areas they controlled.

Kenya, a member of the Council, said it had voted for the resolution because it allowed saving of life, while restricting a possible abuse by the Taliban.

“Kenya is glad to have supported resolution 2615 enabling humanitarian aid to flow to the desperate people of Afghanistan,” said Dr Martin Kimani, Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN.

“We hope that the Taliban will respond by further distancing itself from terrorists and thus opening a path for international recognition and assistance.”

The proposal to allow exemptions on sanctions had been made by the US for “humanitarian assistance and other activities that support basic human needs in Afghanistan” and argued such an exemption would not violate the existing sanctions on the Taliban under Resolution 2255 of 2015 which banned remittance of funds, financial assets or economic resources to individuals listed under the 1988 Afghanistan sanctions regime. Those individuals now include people who are running the Taliban government which took power in August.

And the dilemma for members of the Council was on whether, now that Taliban are in formal government, should continue to be punished or if civilians should suffer still.

“Access should be without hindrance. Disbursement be non-discriminatory and accessible to all, irrespective of ethnicity, religion, political belief,” argued India’s Permanent Representative TS Tirumurti in supporting the resolution on Thursday.

International acceptance

“The UN Security Council should exercise oversight on delivery of such assistance to guard against diversion or misuse of funds,” he added.

Members haggled over the periodic timelines in which the UN Emergency Reliefe Coordinator should be reporting back to the Council. They eventually agreed on six months in which the official will provide an update on challenges and whether any proscribed individuals would have received any payments.

Some of the concerns members raised included support in Covid-19 fight. India announced it had already airlifted 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines as well as 1.6 metric tons of medical supplies and was ready for further aid support.

After the vote, the US said the decision shows the Council was flexible on sanctions not hurt civilians, but said there must be constant monitoring to ensure no abuse.

“The Security Council calls on humanitarian assistance providers and those undertaking activities to meet basic human needs to employ risk management and due diligence processes,” said Jeffrey DeLaurentis, a Senior Advisor for Special Political Affairs at the US Mission to the UN. [The Council must] take all reasonable efforts to ensure assistance is not diverted to UN-listed individuals or otherwise misused or misappropriated.”

In spite of the move, the Taliban will continue to struggle to gain international acceptance to help them revive Afghanistan’s economy as their access to international funding is still banned. On Sunday, a group of African and Asian countries supported plans for a special humanitarian fund.

Meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, the 57 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), agreed to create a fund to channel funding to the poor and starving, the Taliban were unsuccessful in pitching for acceptance.

During the conference, the US, an observer state of OIC, was unmoved by the criticism from Taliban representative, and acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Muttaqi had rallied OIC members to put pressure on the US lift the sanctions it imposed on Afghanistan after the return of the Taliban to power back in August.

Crimes of Taliban

As soon as Taliban retook power, Washington froze Afghan funds, estimated to be $9.6 billion in reserves, while the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank suspended any development assistance to Kabul., which has led to underfunded health a, education and social amenities in Afghanistan.

The OIC meeting ended on Sunday evening in Islamabad, but the declaration for the humanitarian fund did not indicate the amount nor state specific timelines for helping Afghans.

The OIC, a 57-member Organisation headquartered in Saudi Arabia, includes African members such as Uganda, Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Tunisia, Niger, Chad among others. Sudan did not send representatives as its government, after the coup, has yet to be formed.

During the meeting, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan suggested the punishment of Afghans for the crimes of Taliban was unfair, suggesting the humanitarian crisis in the country could become “the biggest man-made crisis which is unfolding before us.

Taliban, which took power in Afghanistan, in spite of sanctions from the US, after Washington and its allied forces left the country in August, had promised to form an inclusive government, ensure women’s participation as well as other civil liberties.

The group instead restricted women from workplaces and schools, eliciting an ire from the UN Security Council. To date, Taliban remains just a de facto government with no international entity formally recognising it. Some countries like Pakistan and China have retained their embassies in Kabul though.

Pakistan Premier though tried to defend Taliban’s version of human rights. 

“The idea of human rights is different in every society," he said, using an example from one of Pakistan’s own province that border Afghanistan where the Pakistani government reportedly pays conservative parents a stipend to have them let girls go to school.

“The city culture is completely different from the culture in rural areas [...] we give stipends to the parents of the girls so that they send them to school. But in districts bordering Afghanistan, if we are not sensitive to the cultural norms, then they won't send them to school despite receiving double the amount. We have to be sensitive about human rights and women rights," he said in a speech in Islamabad, which was also streamed live.