AFGHANISTAN -- Taliban fighters react to a speech by their senior leader in the Shindand district of Herat province, May 27, 2016
OCTOBER 23rd, 2018
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
United States are to target the Afghan Taliban with sanctions
On Tuesday, the Afghanistan Taliban have been targeted with sanctions by the United States; eight individuals to be precise, which consist of two Pakistanis, four Afghanis, and two connected to the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, all of whom have been designated by the Treasury Department as global terrorists.
According to the Treasury Department, the two Iranians mentioned above, targeted for sanctions for funding the Taliban, were identified as Mohammad Ebrahim Owhadi and Esma’il Razavi. The others are named as such; Abdullah Samad Faroqui, Mohammad Daoud Muzzamil, Abdul Rahim Manan, Hafiz Majid, Sadr Ibrahim and Abdul Aziz.
In a taken statement, the Treasury said that the US sanctions are targeting have been involved in numerous cases of terrorist crimes, such as suicide attacks, mass murders, and many other criminal atrocities in the country of Afghanistan. The sanctions additionally targeted Iranians, who had been involved by providing the Taliban with finances, information and general support.
Steven Mnuchin, a Treasury Secretary, stated that “Iran’s provision of military training, financing and weapons to the Taliban is yet another example of Tehran’s blatant regional meddling and support for terrorism,” whilst visiting the Middle East this week, adding that “The United States and our partners will not tolerate the Iranian regime exploiting Afghanistan to further their destabilizing behaviour.”
The US were not the only ones to have put sanctions on the Taliban, with even the Terrorist Financing Targeting Centre (TFTC), a United States Gulf initiative, having put sanctions on the group. Mnuchin was visiting the Middle East this week to further discuss the Iranian sanctions that are to be imposed, as well as fighting the terrorists finance roots, after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and Qassem Soleimani; commander of the guard’s Quds Force were added to Saudi Arabia’s list of sanctions on Thursday, according to the Saudi state news agency SPA.
The sanctions follow a spout of violence in Afghanistan, which include an attack and successful murder of a police chief in the Afghan province of Kandahar, at which United States Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley had been injured. He was one of the two confirmed Americans wounded at the incident, which was confirmedly claimed by the Taliban.
The attack was thought to be fairly overwhelming and tragic for the Afghan government, who are having enough problems with the terrorist group without them killing one of the top leaders in the province, and demonstrating their abilities to do so with ease in the process.
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
