Afghanistan: Vote on the Mandate of the Monitoring Team Supporting the 1988 Sanctions Committee*
Tomorrow morning (13 December), the Security Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution renewing the mandate of the Monitoring Team supporting the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee, which was last renewed by resolution 2716 of 14 December 2023. The US was the penholder on the resolution.
Background
The 1988 Afghanistan sanctions regime imposes an assets freeze, a travel ban, and an arms embargo on individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated with the Taliban. The listing criteria for these sanctions include participating in the acts of, supplying arms to, recruiting for, or otherwise supporting the activities of, those associated with the Taliban in constituting a threat to the peace, security, and stability of Afghanistan. Apart from the humanitarian exception established by resolution 2615 of 22 December 2021, the regime has not been updated since the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
The 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee is a subsidiary organ of the Security Council established to oversee the regime. Its tasks include designating individuals and entities who meet the listing criteria, deciding upon requests for exemptions from the measures, and reporting periodically to the Council. The Monitoring Team supports the Committee by, among other things, preparing written reports on certain topics, including the nature of the threat posed by the Taliban, gathering information on non-compliance with the sanctions measures and providing relevant recommendations, and assisting with listing proposals.
The same monitoring team also supports the 1267/1989/2253 Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee. Resolution 2734 of 10 June extended its mandate to support that committee until June 2027. (For more information, see our 10 June What’s in Blue story.)
Negotiations on the Draft Resolution
The draft resolution in blue renews the Monitoring Team’s mandate to support the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee until February 2026. Apart from a change to the expiry date of the Monitoring Team’s mandate, the operative section of the draft is identical to resolution 2716. While no substantive changes were made to the operative part of the draft in blue, preambular language concerning several issues has been added, including text relating to the ratification of the “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice”, the Taliban’s recent directive banning women and girls from attending classes at private medical institutions, the adverse effects of climate change, the indispensable role of women in Afghan society, and access to humanitarian assistance and basic services for women and girls.
It seems that the negotiations on the draft resolution were relatively smooth, with Council members agreeing from the outset that the mandate of the Monitoring Team should be extended without substantive changes to the operative paragraphs of the resolution. Council members appear to have been able to come to a final agreement earlier than expected, which led to the vote on the draft being rescheduled from 16 December to tomorrow.
The penholder circulated the first draft of the resolution to all Council members on 2 December. After an initial read-through and a round of written comments, on 10 December the penholder placed a second draft under silence until 12 pm yesterday (11 December). Silence was then broken by Russia, after which the penholder put a third draft under silence until 5 pm yesterday. Silence was not broken, and the third draft was subsequently put in blue.
It appears that the first draft circulated by the penholder included new preambular text on several issues, including the “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice”, access to humanitarian assistance and basic services for women and girls, and the Taliban’s efforts to prevent the territory of Afghanistan from being used for terrorist purposes. During the initial read-through and the round of written comments, several members apparently suggested that stronger language relating to human rights, and women, peace and security should be added to the draft. Text referring to the Taliban’s recent directive banning women and girls from attending classes at private medical institutions and the indispensable role of women in Afghan society was subsequently incorporated into the draft in blue, apparently following proposals from France and Switzerland.
It appears that language noting that development, security, and human rights are mutually reinforcing and play an important role in countering terrorism was also added to the draft; however, this was unacceptable to Russia, which broke silence over this text. The relevant language was removed from the draft in blue and replaced with text underlining that ensuring sustainable peace and security should be a goal of counter-terrorism strategies.
The impact of climate change in Afghanistan was also discussed during the negotiations. It appears that Slovenia, with support from several other members, proposed adding language regarding the adverse effects of climate change to a preambular paragraph on the humanitarian and economic situation in the country. It seems that there was no opposition to this proposal, and the relevant text was incorporated into the draft in blue.
Language concerning the Taliban’s efforts to prevent its territory from being used for terrorism was also amended during the negotiations. While the first draft “encourage[d]” the Taliban to strengthen these efforts, the draft in blue instead “calls” on the Taliban to strengthen them, apparently following a suggestion from France.
It appears that Council members disagreed over text referring to the recommendations of the independent assessment on Afghanistan requested by resolution 2679 of 16 March 2023. (The independent assessment report proposed an architecture for engagement with the Taliban, among other matters. For more information, see our 27 November 2023, 8 December 2023, and 28 December 2023 What’s in Blue stories.) Although China and Russia apparently expressed concern over this language, which was added to the first draft by the penholder, it was ultimately incorporated into the draft in blue.
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Post-script: On 13 December, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2763, renewing the mandate of the Monitoring Team supporting the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee until February 2026.
