Afghanistan: UN fail to reach agreement to reimpose Taliban travel ban waiver

The United Nations Security Council failed to reach a consensus surrounding the travel ban waiver on Taliban officials, which expired Friday last week. The nations on the council failed to come to an agreement on whether to extend the travel extensions.

The UN Security Council failed to come to an agreement on whether to extend the travel extensions for the insurgent group, which has been ruling Afghanistan for a year since the withdrawal of the West.

While China and Russia voted to extend the waiver, the United States and other Western nations proposed a reduced list of Taliban officials that are allowed to travel.

The US and other Western countries proposed a reduced list out of protest against the insurgent group’s rollback of women’s rights and its failure to deliver on a pledge to form an inclusive government.

In 2011, the UN Security Council Resolution sanctioned 135 Taliban officials, including asset freezes and travel bans. 13 were granted an exemption to allow them to meet with officials and engage in peace talks.

Back in June, the UN Security Council’s Afghanistan Sanctions Committee removed two Taliban education ministers from the exemption list over its policies on women’s rights.

The committee renewed the exemptions of the others until August 19, including one further month if there are no objections. If no member of the council objects to the travel ban by Monday, it would be implemented for three months.

The United States Thursday last week proposed to re-impose the travel ban on seven of the 13 exempted Taliban officials and keep the exemption for the six others. However, the travel would be limited to Qatar, where US-Taliban discussions have taken place.

Afghanistan remains to be in a humanitarian and economic crisis since the withdrawal of the West and the Taliban’s takeover last year. The country has also been subject to domestic attacks, the latest attack has taken place at a mosque in the capital Kabul last week. At least 21 people were killed, and 33 others were injured from the bombing during evening prayers.

There was no claim of responsibility for the blast, and officials did not publicly accuse anyone.