By Ravi Acharya
It is no secret that at the end of 2015, the UN Security Council adopted a US-Russian resolution calling for tougher sanctions and isolation measures against ISIL and other terrorist groups from the international financial system.
The package of sanctions is primarily intended to limit the ability of ISIL and other terrorist organizations to extract revenue, recruit new fighters, and purchase weapons.
Russia was one of the sponsors of this resolution. This is important, given the difficult relations between the Kremlin and the West due to the sanctions imposed in 2014. The resolution is certainly a very important step, but the facts of its implementation directly depend on actual actions. It is necessary to implement the agreements reached in close cooperation between the countries.
The adopted resolution allows for increased opportunities to prosecute those who help ISIL store, move or earn money. This fact will provide countries with a number of new legal instruments against suspected terrorist financing and will increase the intensity of the exchange of information about suspicious activities. Everyone knows that the critical point in countering the financing of terrorism is the exchange of information. Much depends on what banks consider suspicious transactions and what they consider necessary to report to the authorities.
ISIL is subject to UN sanctions, which were originally developed in 1999 and aimed at al-Qaeda’s finances, and the additional resolution is designed to further complicate the lives of terrorists.
Thus, taking into account the above and relying on some well-known facts and opinions, we can come to an unequivocal conclusion about the extreme need to expand and tighten the sanctions regime imposed by the UN Security Council against international terrorist organizations such as ISIL, al-Qaeda and related individuals and organizations on terrorists operating in Afghanistan. It is a well-known fact that conducting any military operations requires huge financial costs, in this regard, any blocking, arrest and “freezing” of Bank accounts directly or indirectly related to any individuals, organizations or companies that are somehow suspected of interacting with certain terrorist organizations will lead to serious financial difficulties. Consequently, this will significantly contribute to reducing, and subsequently completely ending, the ability to conduct certain military actions aimed at destroying civilians in Afghanistan and the neighbouring countries. Unfortunately, some of the authors of the adopted resolution do not benefit from this in the first place. Therefore, in fact, we have a clear algorithm of actions written on paper and an almost complete lack of implementation of the adopted strategy.
Login to add a comment