Taliban Says Sanctions Will Not Change Movement Course
DOHA (News Agencies) - Taliban leader Mohammad Omar said Thursday that United Nations sanctions will not make his regime bend.
"Even if the entire world lines up against us, we will not give up our principles and our convictions," Omar said in an audio recording broadcast by the al-Jazeera satellite channel.
The U.N. Security Council in December adopted a resolution strengthening sanctions in force against the Taliban.
The resolution, which is due to come into force January 19th, sets out an arms embargo, calls for the closure of "terrorist" training camps and the extradition of Islamist billionaire Ossama bin Laden, who is wanted by U.S. courts for attacks in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam in 1998, which left 224 dead and thousands injured.
Omar also said the Taliban "does not receive outside help. All they circulate about us is false. The truth is that they are afraid of the spiritual and moral force of the Taliban movement.
"Our future is based on our beliefs, and the Americans and Russians can do nothing about it," he said.
The Taliban, meaning "students of theology," appeared in 1994. Two years later, they captured Kabul. They control nearly all of Afghanistan, with the exception of areas in the northeast held by the opposition.
The Sunni Muslim Taliban regime is recognized only by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while the international community still recognizes the former regime of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was ousted in September 1996.
