U.S. Asks UN to Separate Taliban, al-Qaeda as Step Toward Deal

By Bill Varner 
June 10, 2011 
Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-10/u-s-asks-un-to-separate-taliban-al-qaeda-as-step-toward-deal.html

The U.S. is asking the United Nations Security Council to distinguish between Taliban and al- Qaeda followers in enforcing sanctions, a bid to encourage Taliban reconciliation with Afghanistan’s government. 
The U.S. mission to the UN has circulated two draft resolutions to council members that would split what has been a combined list of Taliban and al-Qaeda adherents subject to the travel ban and asset freeze imposed in 1999, according to three diplomats who spoke on condition of not being identified because the texts haven’t been made public. 
The goal of adopting the measures on June 17 would be to send a message to the Taliban that they may escape sanctions by entering into negotiations with the government in Kabul, the diplomats said. Legal and political considerations have complicated efforts to remove selected members of the Taliban from the list in recent years, discouraging reconciliation, they said. 
The sanctions list includes 138 Taliban members and 350 al- Qaeda individuals and organizations. The Afghan government’s preconditions for peace talks with the Taliban include a pledge by the Taliban to sever all ties with al-Qaeda. 
“We support this step,” Zahir Tanin, Afghanistan’s ambassador to the UN, said in an interview. “It will give us more flexibility for success of the process, making it easier to get delisted by treating the two groups separately.” 
Support Reconciliation 
U.S. diplomats, who wouldn’t speak publicly about the initiative, said they’re seeking to adapt the sanctions regime to demonstrate support for Afghan reconciliation efforts. 
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was in Islamabad today seeking the help of Pakistan’s leaders in pursuing peace talks with the Taliban, which has bases on Pakistani territory. 
The visit comes two months after the governments agreed to form a commission to support a peace process. Concern over the rising U.S. debt has led to growing calls in Congress for the Obama administration to withdraw a substantial number of U.S. troops from Afghanistan beginning next month. 
A Karzai-appointed Afghan peace council, which includes former Taliban officials, says it has opened secret contacts with the guerrillas. 
The U.S. has about 97,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting alongside almost 50,000 soldiers from 47 other nations in an effort to degrade the Taliban in its southern Afghanistan stronghold while building up the central government’s ability to secure the country. 
The troops have been there since the U.S. toppled the Taliban regime because of its support for al-Qaeda terrorists who planned the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. 
Adoption of the resolutions would establish separate committees of the Security Council to enforce the sanctions, while extending for 18 months the mandate of the UN offices that monitor the lists and deal with delisting requests. 
To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner at the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net 
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva in Washington at msilva34@bloomberg.net