U.S., Russia Try to Raise Pressure on Taliban

The United States and Russia are joining forces to ban weapon sales to Afghanistan’s Taliban regime in an effort to close terrorist training camps in that country and flush out Saudi militant Osama bin Laden.

Frustrated by inaction by the Taliban since limited international sanctions were levied last year--and spurred by Bin Laden’s alleged connection to the October bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole in Yemen--Washington wants to increase the pressure on the radical Islamic regime to cooperate.

Next week, the United States and Russia will introduce a Security Council resolution to tighten sanctions on the Afghan leaders, who have sheltered Bin Laden, and thus strengthen their opponents in a long-running civil war.

The U.S. and Russia, former Cold War foes who fought a proxy war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, say they have found common ground in the battle against terrorism and drug trafficking. The one-sided arms embargo would halt weapon sales to the Taliban but not to its opposition, the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan.

The Taliban, which seized power in the Afghan capital of Kabul in 1996, insists that Russia’s real interest is not international security, but creating instability in Afghanistan. The Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979, and fought there for a decade before being driven out by fighters backed by Washington.

“They want to have a pretext to keep their military forces in the newly independent states of Central Asia,” said the Taliban’s representative in New York, Abdul Hakeem Mujahid.

“The real loser will be the United States,” he added. “Economic sanctions have not produced any results so far, and further sanctions will only create further resentment against the U.S. where there was none in the past.”

The U.S. representatives at the United Nations outlined what they call “smart sanctions” that target the leadership while sparing Afghanistan’s people, who have been hit hard by continued war, earlier sanctions and the worst drought in more than 30 years.

The new sanctions coincide with a U.N. appeal for $229 million in aid for a country reduced to “a bare-bones existence” that will probably deteriorate as winter approaches. But in a report to the Security Council assessing the potential impact of new measures on civilians, the U.S. emphasized that the sanctions are carefully designed only to halt drug trafficking and terrorist activities.

The restrictions include a global freeze on Bin Laden’s assets, a complete embargo on international flights, a ban on senior Taliban officials’ travel, a reduction of staff in Taliban missions and a prohibition on the export to Afghanistan of the chemical used to manufacture heroin. Flights for humanitarian or religious reasons would be allowed.

U.S. officials acknowledge that the embargo will be difficult to enforce because of Afghanistan’s rugged terrain and elaborate smuggling operations.

“If you can stop a few guns, if you can stop a chemical precursor, then that’s helpful,” said Mary Ellen Glynn, spokeswoman for the U.S. mission at the United Nations.

The sponsors had hoped to introduce the resolution Thursday but delayed any action until next week to secure the support of France and China within the Security Council. France is wary of the effect of additional sanctions on an already struggling population, and it fears a backlash against international aid workers in the country. China customarily hesitates to back sanctions on the principle of noninterference in other countries’ affairs.

The United States has long tried to persuade the Taliban to hand over Bin Laden, accused of plotting the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and his alleged connection to the attack on the Cole lent urgency to the negotiations. But Taliban officials insist that Bin Laden is a guest in their country and that there is no evidence that he has sponsored terrorism while there.

“Osama bin Laden is not allowed to take actions against any country while on our soil,” Taliban envoy Mujahid said. “We have captured his means of communication, and he is under control there. He is living as a human being and as a refugee.”