18 September 2001U.N. Security Council to Taliban: Deliver Bin Laden
(Security Council holds closed session on Afghanistan) (530) By Judy Aita Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- The Security Council delivered a terse, direct message to the Taliban after holding a closed session on the political, military, and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan September 18. "There is one and only one message the Security Council has for the Taliban: implement United Nations Security Council resolution, in particular UNSCR 1333, immediately and unconditionally," said Council President Jean-David Levitte of France. U.N. Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1333 was passed by the Security Council on December 19, 2000. It is the latest in a series of resolutions passed by the council condemning the Taliban for sheltering and training terrorists and planning terrorist acts. It insists that the Taliban comply with the Security Council's 1999 demand that it "turn over Usama bin Laden to appropriate authorities in a country where he has been indicted ... or to appropriate authorities in a country where he will be arrested and effectively brought to justice." The council also demanded that the Taliban "act swiftly" to close all camps where terrorists are trained within the territory under its control and confirm such closures through the United Nations. The council's resolutions also impose a series of economic and military sanctions on the Taliban including closing all Taliban offices and offices of the Taliban's Ariana Airlines, freezing the assets of bin Laden, and banning all flights to Afghanistan except for humanitarian purposes. U.N. Spokesman Fred Eckhard also said September 18 that the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that some 5,000 Afghans are massing at a border crossing near Pakistan's provincial capital of Quetta. The agency is negotiating with the Pakistani authorities and hopes the people will be allowed to cross the border. UNHCR said 2,000 tents have been sent to Quetta as an emergency measure. The World Food Program said it has enough food left in Afghanistan for two to three weeks, Eckhard reported. At a press conference September 18 Afghanistan Ambassador A.G. Ravan Farhadi said that his government asked the council to hold a special meeting "to address the presence of foreign military and armed personnel in Afghanistan and how it poses a threat to regional and international peace and security." The ambassador said he would like to see the council pass a resolution "specifically asking Pakistan to withdraw its armed nationals and patronized religious extremist groups from Afghanistan." "The international community must help Afghanistan to establish a multi-ethnic, broad-based and fully representative government which would secure the right of the Afghan people for self-determination," he said. Farhadi represents the Islamic State of Afghanistan, the northern alliance that controls a relatively small portion of territory in Afghanistan and continues to oppose the Taliban government in Kabul. The United Nations recognizes the Islamic State and it holds the Afghanistan seat in the General Assembly. The Security Council gave no indication whether it would schedule a meeting in response to Afghanistan's request. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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