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US, Russia Face Opposition

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By Stephen Coates

Agence France Presse
November 19, 2000


A debate is underway in the United Nations about the use of economic sanctions against poor countries such as Afghanistan, with a review of existing curbs raising doubts about their effectiveness. Washington and Moscow want up to four "non-economic sanctions" added to the current restrictions on Afghanistan's Taliban regime but are struggling to convince Europe and the United Nations' humanitarian wing, diplomats said. The review comes a year after the UN imposed aviation and financial curbs on the fundamentalist Islamic regime for its refusal to extradite indicted terrorist Osama bin Laden.

UN officials said the issue was raised at a recent Security Council meeting, where UN Coordinator for Afghanistan Eric de Mul, based here in the Pakistani capital, spoke of the likely impact of more sanctions.

The UN's humanitarian office for Afghanistan, also based here, is compiling an assessment of the first year of sanctions in Afghanistan, a country wracked by 21 years of war and a severe drought which has hit half the population. A draft copy of the report, obtained from non-governmental organisations here, acknowledges "concern" about "possible conflicts between international political objectives pursued through sanctions and humanitarian objectives..."

"In particular, the high profile of the debate surrounding the impact of the sanctions on Iraq has prompted calls for more rigour in assessing and off-setting adverse humanitarian effects," it said. The report said "no poor country has ever been sanctioned the way Afghanistan has."

"Afghanistan is unique in being a low-income country, and facing United Nations economic measures with no prospect of a rapid resolution of the dispute or a military intervention similar to that in Haiti. "In this sense the Afghan people are the most vulnerable population which has been subject to United Nations economic measures."

As well as a US investment ban in Taliban-controlled areas, amounting to some 90 percent of the country, the UN has also banned international flights by the state-run Ariana Airlines and frozen the Taliban's overseas assets. "There is evidence that the Taliban have been able to accommodate themselves to sanctions, mitigating or directly evading their impact on the movement, its military and administration," the draft report said.

On the other hand, it said ordinary Afghans had no means to escape the continuing degradation of the economy and its humanitarian side-effects such as lost incomes and opportunities, potenitally higher crime rates and a powerful sense of isolation and victimisation. "Afghans have little capacity to cope with further economic shocks ... There is almost no support within Afghanistan for further economic sanctions," it said.

"Non-economic sanctions" being considered include an arms embargo, a travel ban on Taliban officials, the closure of their foreign offices and targeted assets seizures. Of those, only the arms embargo received broad support from the Afghans consulted for the UN review, despite its limited chances of effectively stopping weapons crossing the country's porous borders.

The United States and Russia, which blames the Taliban for helping Islamic militants fight in Chechnya, are believed to be in favour of all four options. "The United States and Russia are totally in synch in terms of a radical reaction against the Taliban," one European diplomat told AFP here, adding that a decision from the Security Council was expected by the end of the year.

In contrast, some European governments were willing to support nothing more than an arms embargo and specific financial measures against bin Laden, he said. "The Taliban have to be able to travel -- we have to be able to have a dialogue with them," he said, referring to the proposed curbs on overseas trips and representation.


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