UN Arms Embargo Against Taliban Takes Effect

The UN Security Council enacted an arms embargo January 19 against the Taliban for its failure to comply with a resolution demanding that the Afghan faction turn over terrorist-suspect Osama bin Laden to a country where he has been indicted. (See ACT, January/February 2001.)

Security Council Resolution 1333, passed December 19, prohibits states from selling and supplying arms-related material, as well as military advice and training, to Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan. Additional sanctions include closing Taliban offices abroad, restricting Taliban officials' international travel, and banning flights to and from territories under Taliban control (excepting humanitarian assistance-related flights).

Under the resolution, the Taliban had one month to close terrorist training camps it sponsors and to turn over bin Laden, who allegedly resides in Afghanistan and was indicted in the United States for the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The sanctions will remain in effect for one year or until the Taliban complies with the resolution.