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Taliban seek help to stop UN sanctions

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December 13, 2000 

KABUL-- (UNB/AP) - The ruling Taliban appealed to fellow Muslim nations Tuesday to head off possible new sanctions being considered by the United Nations.

The Taliban's foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil sent a letter to the Organization of Islamic Conference warning that fresh sanctions would devastate a country already shattered by 21 years of relentless war and now drought.

"I send to you this letter that Afghanistan is burning. We have suffered from 20 years of war and now are facing drought. We need your support. Please don't let them impose new sanctions," said the letter from Muttawakil.

The Taliban are opposing a resolution, cosponsored by Russia and the United States, which seeks further U. N. sanctions against the religious militia.

The resolution, if approved, would impose an arms embargo against the Taliban, close Taliban offices abroad and reduce the diplomatic missions of the Taliban.

The U.N. imposed sanctions last year also to press a demand that the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire who is suspected of running an international terrorist network worldwide from his bases in Afghanistan.

The Taliban deny he is conducting terrorist activities, but say they will not hand him over because he is a guest in their country and it would be against Islam to betray a fellow Muslim.

The United Nations conducted a study on the sanctions already in place which said they hurt the ordinary Afghan, although that was not their intention.

As a result of the sanctions which were limited most Afghans, already shattered by a relentless civil war, felt isolated and abandoned by the international community.

The U.S. has been spearheading efforts to get fresh sanctions against the Taliban.

The U.S. wants bin Laden handed over for trial either in the U.S. or in a third country.

The U.S. accuses bin Laden of masterminding the 1998 attacks on its embassies in East Africa. U.S. investigators also suspect he may have been involved in last October's suicide bombing of a U.S. navy ship that killed 17 sailors off the coast of Yemen.

The Taliban say bin Laden was not involved in either activities.

The Taliban rule roughly 95 percent of Afghanistan and a re fighting a northern-based opposition that rules the remaining five percent.