UNSC Must Impose Sanctions To Prevent Terror Funding In Afghanistan: India

India has asked the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to use sanctions regime as a weapon against terror funding in Afghanistan and support the strengthening of the war-torn country’s sovereignty and stability threatened by terrorist safe havens across the borders.

India also asked the international community to ensure that the forces of terrorism and extremism do not find sanctuaries and safe havens anywhere and at any level.

"We must not differentiate between good and bad terrorists, or play one group against the other. The Taliban, Haqqani Network, AI-Qaeda, Daesh, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e- Mohammad and others of their ilk are all terror organisations, many of them proscribed by the UN," Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said.

Participating in an open debate of the UNSC on Afghanistan, Akbaruddin said that these terrorist groups should be treated like terrorist organisations with no justifications offered for their activities.

The top Indian envoy also said that the incessant attacks on hospitals, schools, funerals, or international development agencies, diplomatic missions are a matter of serious concern.

"The Security Council must act on the funds which the terrorists in Afghanistan are generating through their illicit activities.  In this regard, we would like the Council to consider how the 1988 sanctions regime can be utilised and also leverage for progress in the peace process? These are significant instruments and must be utilised to their full capacity," he said.

"While making our collective efforts here at the UN or at other multilateral settings, we must be mindful to support the strengthening of Afghanistans sovereignty and stability, the two things anti-Government terrorist elements are trying to undermine from their safe havens across the borders of Afghanistan," he said.

Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani joined Akbaruddin in identifying terrorist safe havens across the border.

"The scourge of terrorism and violent extremism affecting Afghanistan is the product of a long-standing policy by a neighbouring State to keep Afghanistan unstable," he said. He added that the new strategy recognises the critical need to address the lingering problem of terrorist safe-havens and sanctuaries in the region.

"Furthermore, the strategy’s conditions based approach has addressed some uncertainties by reinforcing the right message that the international communitys engagement will endure until Afghanistan becomes stable and secure," Rabbani said. PTI