U.N. Approves Sanctions for Taliban

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to impose financial and aviation sanctions in 30 days against Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers unless Saudi militant Osama bin Laden is turned over for trial on terrorism charges.

The measure deplored the fact that the Taliban, a strict Islamic movement that controls most of Afghanistan, provides a haven for Bin Laden. The Saudi millionaire was charged in New York last year in the August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The attacks killed 224 people.

The resolution also strongly condemned the continuing use of Afghan territory “for the sheltering and training of terrorists and planning of terrorist acts.” The Security Council said the Taliban’s actions constitute a threat to international peace and security.

The United States, which sponsored the resolution, imposed sanctions on the Taliban in July.

“The international community has sent a clear message,” President Clinton said in a statement Friday. “The choice between cooperation and isolation lies with the Taliban.”

Nancy Soderberg, a U.S. representative, told the Security Council’s other members: “Osama bin Laden continues to threaten not only the safety of Americans all over the world but also other citizens in countless countries who may become victims of his terrorist policies.”

Soderberg said that if Bin Laden is not surrendered for trial, the sanctions will restrict foreign landing rights for aircraft operated by the Taliban, freeze Taliban bank accounts around the world and forbid investments in any undertaking owned or controlled by the movement.

Exemptions can be made on a case-by-case basis on the grounds of humanitarian need.

Western diplomats indicated that the U.N. sanctions could be strengthened to include a ban on the sale of aircraft parts to the Taliban if the movement continued to resist turning over Bin Laden.

The Saudi was indicted last year in Manhattan, along with his top military commander, Mohammed Atef, in the embassy bombings and an October 1993 attack in Somalia that killed 18 U.S. military personnel. U.S. authorities have offered a $5-million reward for information leading to the pair’s capture.

Before the vote, Malaysia and Bahrain--short-term Security Council members that do not have veto power--expressed fears that the sanctions would impose hardships on ordinary Afghans.

Malaysian Ambassador Agam Hasmy labeled these people “among the poorest of the poor on Earth.”

On Aug. 20, 1998, the United States launched missile strikes against Bin Laden’s training camps in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan after the Clinton administration charged that the Saudi militant was planning new attacks on American targets.

When U.S. diplomats submitted the sanctions resolution to the council Oct. 6, they said the Taliban had turned down more than 20 requests for Bin Laden’s surrender.