Divided UN council down to wire on Taliban travel exemptions
20/8/2022 7:20
The divided U.N. Security Council was scrambling to reach agreement on whether to extend travel exemptions for 13 Taliban officials now ruling Afghanistan that are set to expire at midnight Friday.
Diplomats said Russia and China want to allow all 13 to continue to travel while the U.S. and Western nations are determined to cut the number to protest the Taliban’s rollback of women’s rights and failure to form an inclusive government as it promised.
Dozens of Taliban members have been on the U.N. sanctions blacklist for years, subject to a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo. But some Taliban officials were granted waivers so they could travel to participate in talks aimed at restoring peace and stability to Afghanistan.
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