Sanctions switch offers Afghan Taliban talks prospect

Richard Barrett, co-ordinator of the United Nations team of independent terrorism experts, reflected moves to separate the Taliban from al-Qaeda, saying that while the Taliban is focused on regaining power over some or all of Afghanistan, al-Qaeda has global ambitions.

As President Obama announced a phased reduction in US troops in Afghanistan over the next two years, Mr Barrett warned that the world’s anti-terrorism focus must be switched to neighbouring Pakistan.

“The threat of terrorism is far greater in Pakistan than in any other country in the world…and it’s where the world’s worry should be,” he told Channel 4 News.

Recently the UN unanimously agreed to set up two separate sanction blacklists – one naming 253 al-Qaeda members and the other listing 138 members of the Taliban. The sanctions – banning both organizations from travel, retaining assets or handling arms – were imposed in 1999, when the Taliban was in power and the list expanded after the 9/11 attacks on America, but until now both groups have been handled by the same sanctions committee.

“The sanctions remain exactly the same as they were before for both groups,” said Mr. Barrett. “But the splitting of the list may make it easier for the Afghan Government to engage the Taliban in some sort of political process, because nobody has any intention of speaking to al-Qaeda, in terms of negotiating or seeking some sort of agreement about the future of the world.”

“The splitting of the list may make it easier for the Afghan Government to engage the Taliban in some sort of political process.” UN’s Richard Barrett

Mr Barrett said that, although it may appear the Taliban and al-Qaeda are working together, it may in fact be more a case of individuals working together as opposed to an institutional arrangement between the two organizations. And he stressed the distinction between the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistan Taliban, warning that they should not be thought of as one movement.

“The Pakistan Taliban are closer to al-Qaeda objectives than they are to Afghan Taliban objectives,” said the UN official. “The Pakistan Taliban and al-Qaeda have a shared idea of attacking the West all over the world, whereas the Afghan Taliban aren’t really interested in that.”

The Afghan Government was meant to have submitted a request to the UN sanctions committee for the removal of 47 individuals from the sanctions blacklist before a key meeting on 16 June. But Afghan Officials provided the necessary documentation for only 18 individuals by the deadline.

Removing the restrictions has been a key demand of the Taliban insurgency movement in Afghanistan and has long been supported by the Afghan government.

Richard Barrett says the Afghan Government sees the delisting of former Taliban members as a way to encourage others to give up the insurgency and seek a more peaceful means of achieving their objectives.

“Some of these individuals are members of the High Peace Council which has been set up to promote the political process. Others may be quietly living in Kabul and have a connection to the Taliban but are not currently supporting Taliban activities. So the Afghan government finds it useful to bring these people into the political process,” he told Channel 4 News.

The Taliban represents a small part of the population in Afghanistan and the UN Coordinator of the Taliban and Al Qaeda Monitoring team says that in a free election the Taliban “wouldn’t get more than about six to seven percent of the vote”.

“In Afghanistan no one is going to favour the return of a Taliban government,” he added.

He accepts that al-Qaeda is a threat but says it is important “not to do their work for them by unnecessarily scaring people into thinking the threat is greater than it actually is.”