AVA - Afghan Interim Officials to UN: Remove Sanctions on IEA Members

Islamic Emirate authorities have once again asked the United Nations to remove the names of the group’s members from the UN blacklist, adding the international community should engage with the group instead of putting pressure.

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA)_Monitoring, The UN Security Council failed to reach an agreement to extend the travel exemptions, allowing 13 Islamic Emirate officials to travel abroad, which expired in August 2021.

“Some 20 to 25 Islamic Emirate officials are on the UN blacklist and have been sanctioned. Some of them have died, and few are working with the caretaker government,” Zabihullah Mujahid, Islamic Emirate senior spokesperson said.

According to Mujahid, adding pressure and force will not bear results. The war of the past 20 years has proven that the people of Afghanistan will not surrender to pressure. Instead, engagement and negotiations are ideal options to reach a comprehensive conclusion, he added.

Moreover, including of the Islamic Emirate officials on the UN blacklist violates the Doha Agreement, according to Mujahid.

The Doha Agreement is a peace deal between the United States and the Islamic Emirate aimed at restoring peace in Afghanistan. the agreement was signed in Doha in 2020, finalizing the US withdrawal from Afghanistan contingent on Islamic Emirate security assurance that Afghan soil will not be used against the US by Al-Qaed and other terrorist groups.