Conflict
Crisis/Conflict/Terrorism
UN removes 'Taliban' term, still keeps group in sanctions list

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 02 Sep 2021, 11:36 pm Print

UN removes 'Taliban' term, still keeps group in sanctions list

Image:Xinhua/UNI

By omitting the word 'Taliban', the United Nations has decided to take a soft stance against Taliban, the insurgent group which overran Afghanistan triggering a mass exodus of Afghans as it set out to impose a strict Islamic law.

The UN removed the term from the  statements naming the groups that are required not to support terrorists operating from Afghanistan.

On Aug 16, the UN Security Council issued a statement, “reaffirming the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan” and of ensuring that the Afghan territory “is not used to threaten or attack any country", Dawn News reported.

The UNSC statement also said that “neither the Taliban nor any other Afghan group or individual should support terrorists operating on the territory of any other country.”

On Aug 27, a day after the Kabul airport bomb blasts, the UNSC reproduced a paragraph from its earlier statement but dropped the word Taliban, the newspaper reported.

“The members of the Security Council reiterated the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan to ensure the territory of Afghanistan should not be used to threaten or attack any country, and that no Afghan group or individual should support terrorists operating on the territory of any country,” the changed paragraph read.