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UNMGOA: No Information Linking Taliban, Al-Qaeda With Organized Crime
By
Aamir Latif
IOL
Pakistan correspondent
ISLAMABAD,
Feb. 9 (IslamOnline) - The United Nations Monitoring Group on Afghanistan
(UNMGOA) has reported to the Security Council that law enforcement agencies did
not provide specific information concerning the alleged linkages between
Taliban, Al-Qaeda and organized crime networks in Afghanistan.
The
UNMGOA, in its first report to the U.N. Security Council, also sent to Pakistani
Foreign Office on Thursday, said the linkages between the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and
organized crime networks are known to exist but "were not elaborated upon
by those law enforcement agencies visited. During meetings with some
international law enforcement agencies it became evident that the information
which the Group requires to fulfil its mandate is not available or could not be
divulged by some of the agencies with whom the group consulted."
Those
consulted by the UNMGOA in preparing its first report included government
representatives of the U.S., Britain, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, Europol, Interpol, International Atomic Energy Agency and the World
Customs Organisation.
The
U.N. Monitoring Group, established pursuant to U.N. Security Council Resolution
1363 (2001), comprising experts in the fields of counter-terrorism, purchase of
arms and financing of terrorism, money laundering, financial transactions and
drug trafficking, submitted its report to the U.N. Security Council in January
after the Taliban were routed from power under the U.S.-led so called “war on
terrorism.”
The
group, calling on the international law enforcement community to improve the
sharing of information concerning the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and organized crime,
said it would look into possible ways of ensuring that such information was
given to the U.N. in a viable form.
Noting
its observations on the reports that the Taliban possessed stockpiles of
chemical shells, sarin, and VX gas projectiles which could be fired by the M46
130mm guns, the group said it had not been able to verify the locations or
quantities of these weapons of mass destruction.
Underlining
the threats to Afghanistan, the Monitoring Group said the single gravest threat
to the interim administration and to lasting peace was the unregulated and
uncontrolled flow of weapons and military supplies to the different factions
within Afghanistan.
The
latest information available to the group is that prior to the U.S.-led
offensive, there were 100 scud missiles and at least four scud mobile launch
units, the report said, adding, attempts were under way to determine "the
distribution" of these systems between the various factions.
Stressing
the importance of locating and monitoring the operational status of missiles,
the monitoring group expressed concern that Taliban or Al-Qaeda or their
sympathizers could well use these missiles to deliver weapons of mass
destruction in future attacks against International Security Assistance Force.
The
monitoring group report said the task of determining the presence of weapons was
complicated due to the number of countries in which similar models were
manufactured. "It is quite difficult to distinguish a piece of Taliban
military equipment from the one used by the Northern Alliance."
However,
the UNMGOA observed that after the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan, evidence
supposedly came to light of Al-Qaeda's interest in the manufacture of weapons of
mass destruction, some of which appeared to be crude.
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