Taliban makes Pak sweat

Moreover, the sanctions will introduce UN monitoring units to watch over both the issue of arms supplies to the Taliban and the activities of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and the traffic of terrorists through Pakistan. There even seems an unrelenting drive by both Russia and the US to bring these sanctions into fruition despite attempts by UN Special Representative for Afghanistan, Fransesc Vendrell, to delay them by engaging the Taliban and the anti-Taliban United Front in peace talks. However, there is certain amount of suspicion about such peace talks because both sides have agreed to them in winter, when the fighting is virtually over.The new sanctions will only deprive Taliban of arms supplies from Pakistan and not affect the continuing military build-up of Masoodacirc;euro;trade;s forces by Russia, Iran, India and other states. In fact there is pressure within the US that it should itself provide arms to Masood or at least encourage other countries to do so.

The UN sanctions are expected to broaden the definition of terrorism. Beyond last yearacirc;euro;trade;s sanctions, demanding the Taliban extradition of Bin Laden, the new resolution will demand that the Taliban extradite all foreign non-Afghan extremist groups from Afghanistan and also the other groups which the Taliban have given sanctuary to.

The UN will also be authorised by the Security Council to set up a monitoring team for this purpose, demanding free access to any perceived terrorism sites inside Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. If the Taliban reject this demand or if Pakistan is seen as not helping the international community in adequately pressuring the Taliban, there could be further sanctions against the Taliban and Pakistan.

With the Talibanacirc;euro;trade;s major contacts with the outside world carried out through Islamabad, if the other sanctions come into force, the Musharraf regime will have to close down the Taliban embassy, prevent Taliban leaders addressing madrasas and public gatherings in Pakistan, freeze their bank accounts and clamp down on all Taliban diplomatic activity, military mobilisation, smuggling and support to neo-Taliban groups in Pakistan territory and other activities that the Taliban may carry out in Pakistan.

Such a crackdown, with no political preparation, will most certainly create unrest in vested interest groups in Pakistan who have benefited from these polices, including the transport and smuggling mafias and some Islamic parties.

Significantly, such sanctions will cripple any hopes of an economic revival or further international cooperation in the shape of loans and aid for Pakistan. Local and foreign investor confidence, which has already hit rock bottom, will be further demoralised. The flight of capital may dramatically escalate and so may the ongoing migration of Pakistanacirc;euro;trade;s professional classes.

By linking itself so closely to the Taliban and defending it in all outside forums, Islamabad is increasingly being viewed by potential economic investors as a disaster zone which somehow abets terrorism. The government, meanwhile, insists that all is well.

There is little doubt that with the present international viewpoint on the Taliban which is being further fuelled by the US and Russia, the mood to punish Pakistan for its support to the Taliban is much in evidence.

The sanctions, say unabashed US officials, are as much aimed at Pakistan as they are at the Taliban. And even though Western officials insist that the sanctions will not limit humanitarian aid to the hapless Afghan population, there is little doubt that at the upcoming donors conference on Afghanistan in Switzerland in December, NGOs will be facing an uphill task to try and persuade the rich donor countries to increase humanitarian relief to Afghanistan.