‘Use sanctions as weapon against terrorists in Afghanistan’

By Arul Louis

United Nations, Sep 26 (IANS) India has asked the UN Security Council to use its power of imposing sanctions as a weapon against terrorists in Afghanistan and to give the peace process an impetus.

"The Security Council must act on the funds which the terrorists in Afghanistan are generating through their illicit activities," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said on Monday.

He said India wanted the Council to also consider how sanctions can be a "leverage for progress in the peace process".

The sanctions that can be imposed under resolution known as 1988 adopted in 2011 by the Council against the Taliban and those connected to it "are significant instruments and must be utilised to their full capacity", he added.

The string of crises that have been inflicted on Afghanistan and the instability have made it "attractive for criminal and terrorist groups, who are well connected to international terror and crime networks.

"These groups are stealing the resources of Afghanistan which ought to belong to the people of the country," Akbaruddin said.

"No distinction should be made between terrorist organisations like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, which primarily operate against India, and the Taliban, Haqqani Network, Al Qaeda, the Islamic State that operate internationally.

"They should be treated like terrorist organisations with no justifications offered for their activities," he added.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)