UN Security Council Issues 10-Day Exemption on Travel Ban of Taliban Minister

The UN Security Council has lifted the travel ban on Mullah Khairullah Khairkhaw, the Taliban Minister of Information and Culture for 10 days. This exemption from sanctions has been imposed from December 1 to 10, 2022, so that Khairkhaw can travel to Kazan city in Russia.

According to the UN Security Council’s statement, Khairkhaw will participate in an international forum on the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention.

However, an official of the Ministry of Information and Culture of the Taliban said that Khairkhaw has decided not to participate in the Kazan meeting.

The Taliban are accused of destroying Afghanistan's rare cultural heritage during their rule in the 1990s.

Under the group’s reign in the 1990s, the Taliban destroyed a part of the statues of the National Archives of Afghanistan and blew up the Buddha statues of Bamiyan province.