Afghanistan (Hansard, 4 February 2002)

§ Vera Baird
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the progress of the interim Afghanistan Government in implementing democratic reforms. [30270]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
Since its inauguration on 22 December, the Interim Administration has made good progress in implementing the Bonn agreement. The Interim Administration represents the major ethnic groups in Afghanistan and includes Afghanistan's first Minister for Women's Affairs.
On 25 January Hamid Karzai, Chair of the interim Administration, announced the appointment of the 21 members of the Special Commission for the convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga (the traditional Afghan Grand Council). The commission has the task of organising a Loya Jirga to take place in June. The Loya Jirga will then appoint a transitional Government to hold office until elections are held for a fully representative Government in 2002.

§ Mr. Love
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent changes there have been to United Nations sanctions against Afghanistan. [33836]

§ Mr. MacShane
With the full support of Her Majesty's Government, on 16 January the United Nations Security Council ("UNSC") adopted resolution 1390 (2002). Taking into account the changing situation in Afghanistan, the resolution extended or amended some of the existing measures and introduced new measures targeting Usama bin Laden, members of the al-Qaeda organisation and the Taliban and other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with them designated by the UN Sanctions Committee on Afghanistan. Other UNSC sanctions targeting Afghanistan were terminated or allowed to lapse.
UNSC resolution 1390 (2002) continues the asset freeze imposed by resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1333 (2000) on senior members of the Taliban, Usama bin Laden and individuals and entities (including members of al-Qaeda) designated by the Security Council as associated with him, and extends it to all designated members of the Taliban and their associates. The resolution also places an embargo on the supply of arms and military assistance to, and imposes a world-wide travel ban on, Usama bin Laden and persons designated by the Security Council as members of the al-Qaeda organisation or the Taliban or their associates.
A full list of those designated by the UN Sanctions Committee on Afghanistan is available on the UN website: http: //www.un.org/Docs/sc/committees/Afghanistan/ Afg_list_eng.htm.
On 15 January the UNSC had adopted resolution 1388 (2002) removing all previous UNSC restrictions on Ariana Afghan Airlines.