A coalition of human rights activists has welcomed the update of the United Nations Security Council’s sanctions list, which now includes 22 senior Taliban officials, calling it an important step. The coalition’s statement on Monday, March 15, said the update underscores that the Taliban continue to be regarded as a terrorist group. Key figures on the updated list include Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the Taliban’s prime minister; Abdul Ghani Baradar, deputy economic head; Amir Khan Muttaqi, foreign minister; and Sirajuddin Haqqani, interior minister, along with several other senior officials. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has updated its own Taliban sanctions in coordination with the UN Security Council decision. The coalition emphasized that the continuation and updating of sanctions reflects the Taliban’s ongoing threat to peace, widespread human rights abuses, exclusion of women from society, and support for extremist groups. The Taliban are recognized as having both Afghan and Pakistani branches. The UN Security Council’s sanctions committee updated the list of sanctioned Taliban officials on March 9. Previously, on February 12, the Council extended the mandate of the Taliban sanctions monitoring team for another year.
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