[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 27 (Monday, July 12, 1999)]
[Page 1285]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the National Emergency With Respect to the Taliban

July 6, 1999

    I have signed an Executive order imposing financial and other 
commercial sanctions on the Afghan Taliban for its support of Usama bin 
Ladin and his terrorist network. The Taliban has allowed the territory 
under its control to be used as a safe haven and base of operations for 
Usama bin Ladin and the al-Qaida organization, who were responsible for 
the bombings of our embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, 
Tanzania, last year, murdering 12 Americans, nearly 300 Kenyans and 
Tanzanians, and wounding another 5,000. To this day, bin Ladin and his 
network continue to plan new attacks against Americans, without regard 
for the innocence of their intended victims or for those non-Americans 
who might get in the way of his attack. The United States has tried 
repeatedly, directly and working with other governments, to persuade the 
Taliban to expel bin Ladin to the United States for trial or, if that is 
not possible, to a third country where he will face justice for his 
crimes, and to end the safe haven it gives to bin Ladin's network, which 
lives and trains in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. These efforts have 
failed. The Executive order I have signed will deepen the international 
isolation of the Taliban, limit its ability to support terrorist 
networks and demonstrate the need to conform to accepted norms of 
international behavior. The order does not affect humanitarian aid, 
food, and medical supplies for civilian use. It is not aimed at the 
people of Afghanistan, but at the Taliban. Those who nurture terrorism 
must understand that we will not stand by while those whom they protect 
target Americans.