Washington: The United Nations is proposing to pay nearly $6 million for protection in Afghanistan to Taliban-run Interior Ministry personnel, whose chief is under UN and US sanctions and wanted by the FBI, according to a UN document and a source familiar with the matter.
The proposed funds would be paid next year mostly to subsidise the monthly wages of Taliban fighters guarding UN facilities and to provide them a monthly food allowance under an expansion of an accord with the former US-backed Afghan government, the document reviewed by Reuters shows.
The plan underscores the persisting insecurity in Afghanistan following the Islamist Taliban’s takeover in August as the last US troops left, as well as a dire shortage of funds hampering the new government because of a cutoff of international financial aid.
“The United Nations has a duty as an employer to reinforce and, where necessary, supplement the capacity of host states in circumstances where UN personnel work in areas of insecurity,” deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq wrote in an email in response to Reuters’ questions about the proposed payments. He did not dispute the contents of the document.
Several experts said the proposed payments raise questions about whether they would violate US and UN sanctions on the Taliban and their top leaders, and whether the United Nations could detect diversions of funds for other purposes.
The UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) budget is “currently under review,” but the mission “maintains full compliance with all UN sanctions regimes,” Haq said.
A US Treasury Department official said the Taliban and the Haqqani network remain designated under the US government’s counterterrorism sanctions program and that unauthorized people supporting them “risk exposure to US sanctions.” The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to comment on the UN proposal.
The proposed funds would bolster the cash-strapped Taliban’s ability to protect some 3,500 UN personnel in Kabul and 10 field offices. Many are striving to help the country of 39 million cope with food shortages amid a public services breakdown and an economic collapse accelerated by the evaporation of foreign financial aid.
