Writing in the Washington Post, Column Lynch exposes the conundrum raised by Abdul Hakim Monib, an Afghan provincial governor who is at once a key American ally and on a UN list of suspected international terrorists. Monib, you see, was a former Taliban leader who broke ranks in 2002 and joined the government of Hamid Kharzai. But the sanctions list hasn’t been updated to reflect Monib’s reconciliation with Kharzai, so dealing with him can be somewhat legally troubling.
“This is a perfect case where time has passed, things have changed, but the committee hasn’t and the list hasn’t,” [Eric Rosand of the Center on Global Counter-Terrorism Cooperation said.] “The list is so poorly managed that no one has confidence in it anymore, and nobody puts forward names.”
The committee to which Rosand refers is the U.N. Security Council’s Al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctions panel, which was formed in 1999. In last month’s installment of UNF Insights, Rosand explains why, exactly, the Al Qaeda sanctions list is stale, and what can be done to enhance the UN’s counter-terrorism work.