Afghan Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel Tuesday appealed to three members of the United Nations Security Council to veto moves to toughen sanctions against the ruling Taliban militia.
Mutawakel called on France, Britain and China to oppose harsher sanctions when they come up for debate at the Security Council in the next few days.
"As they always talk of human rights, they can use their influence and vote and act accordingly," he told AFP.
"We very clearly call on them. There are two countries that do this act of oppression without any justification. Other people should oppose this oppression."
The United States and Russia, the two most vocal critics of the Taliban regime, have thrown their combined weight into a push for more stringent sanctions on top of the aviation and financial curbs imposed last year.
Washington wants the Taliban to hand over Saudi-born billionaire and indicted terrorist Osama bin Laden, while Russia blames the religious militia for spreading Islamic militancy throughout Central Asia.
"Russians are naturally the Afghans' enemies" while the United States "always wants to have an enemy to exaggerate it for their own use," said Mutawakel, who is considered a moderate in the highly secretive militia.
The Taliban claim Washington has provided no evidence against bin Laden, who allegedly masterminded two bomb attacks on US embassies in East Africa in 1998 which killed more than 220 people.
Bin Laden, a veteran of the Afghan war against the 1979-89 Soviet occupation, has in the past called on Muslims around the world to kill Americans.
He is also a top suspect in the US warship bombing in Yemen in October and Washington has vowed to attack his suspected bases in Afghanistan if his involvement is proven, as it did unsuccessfully after the embassy blasts.
"We do not challenge their (US) interests. Nor do they have the right to challenge our independence," the Taliban minister said.
"Saddam Hussein is old so they have chosen Osama now. They will find some one else in future."
An arms embargo designed to limit the Taliban's ability to wage war against their northern-based opponents, is understood to be highest on the list of additional sanctions.
Others include a travel ban against militia officials and the closure of the Taliban's overseas representative offices, although some European countries are known to oppose anything that could limit dialogue.
Mutawakel denied recent reports that some Chinese Islamic separatists were being trained in Taliban-held Afghanistan.
"We have assured China that there will be no move against them from Afghanistan," he said.
The Taliban, or movement of Islamic students, emerged from religious schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 1994 and seized Kabul two years later, ousting the government of president Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Rabbani's government is still internationally recognised over the Taliban, although forces loyal to his defense minister, Ahmad Shah Masood, hold only some 10 percent of the country.
The Taliban regime is recognized by Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, while Rabbani's government still holds Afghanistan's seat at the -- UN KABUL (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
