UN experts monitor sanctions implementation

A special delegation of experts commissioned by the UN had arrived in Pakistan this week to examine the enforcement of the UN’s sanctions and arms embargo against Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, UN sources confirmed to IRIN on Wednesday. The news comes amid allegations by Afghanistan’s opposition Northern Alliance that Pakistan is defying the sanctions, something Islamabad vehemently denies. “Officially speaking, there is [sic] absolutely no arms coming from Pakistan to Afghanistan,” Tasneem Noorani, the secretary of the Pakistani interior ministry, told IRIN. “The border is strictly being monitored.” Noorani’s comments follow the arrival on Monday of the team which, a UN source said, “are looking at the arms embargo and how it can be monitored”. The source added: “It’s a very technical mission [’which is] looking at how monitoring activities can be implemented more effectively.” Following meetings with senior government officials in the capital, Islamabad, the team will travel to the provincial capital of Peshawar in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province on Wednesday for further discussions, and then over the renowned Khyber Pass to the border town of Towr Kham, the source said. The team will conclude its work on Friday before making its recommendations. During the recent visit of Ahmad Shah Masud to the European Parliament, the most senior anti-Taliban commander accused Pakistan of sending in arms, as well as military advisers, to assist Taliban forces. This contention has been flatly rejected by Pakistani authorities. Nonetheless, despite strong assurances from government officials that sanctions were being fully implemented, the long and porous border that separates Pakistan and Afghanistan, filled as it is with treacherous roads and insurmountable mountains, is nearly impossible to monitor effectively. This fact was echoed by Noorani, who said: “The large tribal areas along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan are quite different from the more settled parts of the country. I think you have to look at the situation in the right context.” He added: “These areas have traditionally had a very strong gun culture, so undoubtedly there is a lot of two way-traffic of arms there.” The team is expected to make recommendations on the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 133, which effectively bans arm sales to the Taliban, and restricts foreign travel by senior Taliban officials. The sanctions, imposed in January, followed the adamant refusal by Taliban officials to hand over Saudi suspected terrorist Usama bin Ladin, wanted in connection with the bombings of two US embassies in East Africa in 1998. Both the Taliban and Pakistan believe that, far from bringing peace to the beleaguered country already suffering from over two decades of war and the worst drought in 30 years, the unilateral arms embargo against the Taliban will only escalate the conflict in Afghanistan further.