U.N. staff leaving Afghanistan

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, DEC. 13. The United Nations foreign staff posted in Afghanistan are leaving the country and heading to Pakistan amid increasing tension there, in the light of reports of fresh sanctions by the U.N. against the Taliban regime. In the last few days, about half of the 15 international staff have left Afghanistan and more are expected to follow suit.

The Taliban has threatened to shut down the office of the United Nations Special Mission for Afghanistan and boycott the U.N.- sponsored peace talks if more sanctions are imposed. Though a U.N. spokesperson in Islamabad has said that its operations in Afghanistan are continuing normally, indications are the humanitarian assistance rendered by the international agencies could come to a grinding halt.

In a statement issued here, the office of the U.N. co- ordinator for Afghanistan said that new sanctions would increase the risk to the U.N. on the ground and ``hinder the ability of aid agencies to provide life-saving support''. But the U.S. and Russia, prime movers behind the sanctions resolution, appear to be in no mood to listen to the advice.

The Taliban has denounced the proposed resolution as blatantly one-sided and appealed to the head of the Organisation of Islamic Conference and human rights groups to block any move to impose new sanctions against Afghanistan.

The proposed resolution seeks to direct Taliban to stop training and supporting terrorists; freeze the financial assets of Osama bin Laden and hand him over and impose an arms embargo against the Taliban and close all its offices overseas.

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Section  : International
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