KABUL, July 7 (AFP)
Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban Wednesday condemned US sanctions imposed against it for sheltering alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden, while its opponents applauded the move and said they hoped it would cut off the flow of funds to the hardline Islamic militia.
Taliban supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar said the US “has taken a vindictive action because of mutual differences and its malicious designs against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”
The American move was “unjust” as Washington had never made any demands concerning bin Laden when the Saudi dissident lived in Afghanistan under previous regimes, Omar said in a statement to Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), adding he did not know where bin Laden was.
“I do not know where he is. We have neither asked him to leave nor to live in Afghanistan.”
The US action “smacks of arrogance of a power-intoxicated country,” Omar told the Pakistan-based private information service from his base in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
In Washington, a senior member of the Taliban demanded proof that bin Laden was using Afghanistan as a terrorist base and vowed to act upon any “clear evidence.”
“We have declared several times that Osama bin Laden is not allowed to use Afghan soil against any country or any nationals,” Abdul Hakim Mujahid told reporters.
The Taliban, which human rights groups accuse of serious abuses, controls about 80 percent of Afghanistan but has no official relations with Washington.
On Tuesday US President Bill Clinton signed an executive order freezing Taliban financial and property assets in the US and prohibiting imports and exports and any contribution which could benefit the regime.
He said the sanctions would “deepen the international isolation of the Taliban, limit its ability to support terrorist networks, and demonstrate the need to conform to accepted norms of international behavior.”
Washington suspects bin Laden, 41, of masterminding attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam last August in which 224 people died.
US officials added bin Laden on June 7 to the FBI “10 most wanted” list and offered a record five million dollars for his capture.
Bin Laden had found sanctuary with the Taliban but “went missing” in February amid claims by militia authorities they had no idea of his whereabouts.
Reports since then have claimed bin Laden was operating terrorist bases in Afghan provinces along the Pakistan border.
The Afghan opposition welcomed the sanctions.
“The Islamic State of Afghanistan hopes that the sanctions would generate far reaching effects, leading to curtailing and ultimately halting the Taliban’s steady financial resources,” the opposition said in a statement received here from Paris.
It claimed the Taliban’s resources came primarily from trafficking in narcotics and “individual and private donations from some Middle East countries.”
The Islamic State of Afghanistan, parallel to the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is headed by former president Burhanuddin Rabbani. Rabbani and his military wing, the Northern Alliance, hold just 20 percent of the country.
Sources said private Saudi money, funneled through bin Laden connections, continued to enter Afghanistan in support of the Taliban and these funds could be targetted by the sanctions imposed by Washington.
However, analysts said the sanctions were not expected to impact greatly on Afghanistan given that most of its income was sourced from areas which are notoriously difficult to monitor.
Most economic ventures involving US companies in Afghanistan, such as a trans-Afghan gas pipeline, have been shelved. However, New Jersey-based Telephone Systems International has begun installing the country’s first mobile phone system.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
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