Global Policy Forum

U.N. international employees began returning to Afghanistan on Sunday after the ruling Taliban militia guaranteed they would not face a violent backlash because of newly proposed sanctions. Three U.N. workers arrived in the beleaguered Afghan capital, Kabul, early Sunday, while seven others returned to Herat and Kandahar, said Erick de Mul, the U.N. coordinator for Afghanistan. They are among about 50 international workers the United Nations pulled out of Afghanistan last week amid fears of a violent reaction to a sanctions resolution the U.N. Security Council passed last week.

"Everything is fine and we don't have any problems in our operations," de Mul said. De Mul said the Taliban had guaranteed the safety of the U.N. employees, most of whom work for agencies involved in removing land mines, aiding refugees and providing food assistance. Most of them will be back in Afghanistan in the coming week, he said. "I am very happy to back here and resume work," David Pakas, a U.N. security official, told reporters after arriving at the Kabul airport.

The United Nations gave the Taliban a month to surrender suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden and close terrorist training camps or face new sanctions proposed by the United States and Russia. The Security Council said the sanctions would hit only the Taliban, not ordinary Afghans already devastated by a protracted civil war and a persistent drought.

However, ordinary Afghans already are suffering: the currency has plunged and prices have gone up because of the sanction threats. Thousands of people are trying to flee the country.

The sanctions call for an arms embargo on the Taliban, including foreign military assistance purportedly given by Pakistan, and for all Taliban offices overseas to be closed.

The sanctions will go into effect in a month if the Taliban fail to close Afghan "terrorist" camps and deliver bin Laden to the United States or a third country for trial in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Taliban leaders have refused to hand over bin Laden. They also have denied allegations that the camps are used to train Chechen rebels, who are fighting for independence from Russia. In November 1999, the United Nations imposed limited sanctions on the Taliban to force bin Laden's extradition.

The Taliban, who rule more than 95 percent of Afghanistan, including Kabul, are fighting the northern-based opposition alliance in an attempt to extend their control over the entire country. The Taliban practice a fundamentalist brand of Islam; they are mostly Sunni Muslims and Pashtun, Afghanistan's majority ethnic group. The opposition is made up of predominantly ethnic and religious minorities.