[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 46 (Monday, November 22, 1999)]
[Pages 2386-2387]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on United Nations Sanctions Against the Taliban

November 15, 1999

    Today the President of the United Nations Security Council certified 
that the economic sanctions against the Taliban laid out in Resolution 
1267 one month ago are now in effect. These sanctions are being 
implemented because the Taliban has spurned the unanimous demand of the 
Security Council and refused to deliver Usama bin Ladin to a country 
where he can face justice for his acts of terrorism, including the 
bombing of America's Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
    The international community has again spoken with one voice, and its 
resolve to combat the threat of international terrorism is clear. The 
U.N. sanctions parallel the unilateral ones that the United States 
placed on the Taliban in July and will result in the restriction of 
landing rights of airlines owned, leased, or operated by or on behalf of 
the Taliban, the freezing of Taliban accounts around the world, and the 
prohibition of investment in any undertaking owned or controlled by the 
Taliban. I ask all the nations of the world to do their utmost so that 
these sanctions are implemented fully and swiftly.
    The message to the Taliban is unmistakable: bin Ladin's training 
camps must be closed; the threats and operational activity must cease, 
and bin Ladin must answer for

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his crimes. The people of Afghanistan have already paid a high price in 
isolation because of the Taliban's continued harboring of this 
terrorist, and that toll will now increase. It is time for the Taliban 
to heed the will of the United Nations and end the threat of terrorism 
that emanates from within Afghanistan.