With 17 out of 33 ministers in the Taliban cabinet on the sanctions list of the UN Security Council’s (UNSC) 1267 Committee, the Sunni Islamist government will have to seek delisting of these individuals based on the latest 2593 UNSC resolution on Afghanistan. The 1267 Committee is headed by India till December 2022.

Resolution 2593 was passed by the UNSC under the presidency of India on August 30, 2021 with Russia and China abstaining from voting.

Paragraph two of resolution 2593, which has become a mantra for the democratic world, clearly demands that Afghan territory should not be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter or train terrorists or to plan or to finance terrorist acts. While reiterating the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan, the resolution also calls to take action against those individuals and entities designated pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999).

While Taliban has not been designated as a terrorist organization, many of its leaders are under the 1267 list with Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani being the most prominent one. The head of Haqqani Network is designated both by UN and US Department of State and has a USD 5 million bounty on his head. Other prominent listed ones are: Abdul Haq Wasiq, head of intelligence; Mohammed Fazl, Deputy Minister for Defence; Khairullah Khairkhwa, Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Noorullah Noori, Minister for Border and Tribal Affairs. While Sirajuddin Haqqani remains in the shadows, the four others were released from Guantanamo Bay detention facility in exchange for a US Army deserter during the Obama regime.

Violation of 2593 resolution will lead to UN sanctions on the Taliban government, particularly if the Sunni Islamist group provides safe havens to terrorists group like al Qaeda, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba or Tehreek-e-Taliban, Pakistan. All these groups have publicly sworn allegiance or Bayat to elusive Taliban chief Hibatullah Akundzada with JeM’s chief operational commander Mufti Abdul Rauf Azhar aka MARA personally meeting him in Kandahar last month.