Wednesday November 16, 2016
Kabul (BNA) Frustrated with the Taliban intense insurgency, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has asked the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for blacklisting the Taliban Supreme Leader.
Hebatullah become supreme leader of the militants after Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone strike inside the Pakistani soil, where some reports said the incident has been coordinated between the US troops and Pak intelligence. The UN sanction Committee has insisted to remove some Afghan government armed oppositions leaders including the elusive Hezb-e-Islami leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from its blacklist to help peace process get success in the war-torn nation.
The plan would cover the Taliban leaders, if they got readiness to join peace process and put an end to the long lasting bloodshed that left heavy damages and human tragedy since the last more than14 years in the country.
The committee also wanted to help the Afghan government to control the terrorist financial system and would consider the president’s suggestion for enlisting Mullah Hebatullah in the UN sanctions’ list. According to the president of Afghanistan, the first financial source of terrorists was drugs, so his government is making effort to prevent plantation, production and trafficking of drugs in the country and the second fund source is illegal mining in some provinces of the country, with rich underground resources. The process of illegal mining has also been by the government in the last two years, in most parts of the country. The president has warned that those armed oppositions continuing insurgency and devastation would face severe national and international trails, but those inclined of joining peace, the government welcomes them through an open door of peace process. Some 30 terrorists groups are still operation in some border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with support from some foreign and neighboring countries, threatening not only security of the country, but also the region and the world. Countries backing terrorism and providing safe haven and training centers for them should also be fought militarily and imposed economic sanctions from the UNSC.
The president has called on the UN to add the names of those Taliban leaders in its blacklist and impose economic sanctions on their capitals, who are continuing devastation and destructions in the country and threatening the Afghan and regional security. Likewise, the UNSC has said it would soon start considering the UN blacklisted Hezb-e-Islami leader’s issues to delist him of the UN sanctions, a move it said would take for encouragement of the armed oppositions leaders to give arm and join peace negotiation with the government. The decision by the president was taken after the Taliban announced to continue war on the government and the foreign forces, and are never ready to join peace talks. This is while, a three member Qatari based Taliban delegation has been dispatched to Islamabad to take consultation meeting with the Pakistan leaders to either join or reject peace with the Afghan government.
Hamidullah Faizi
