CNN

Countries Find Taliban Demands Unreasonable

On Tuesday May 12, 2009, the Taliban claimed to possess nuclear weapons and technology, and then followed this announcement with a series of demands. They say that if the demands are not met within a month, they will take action against the state of Israel. Countries have had multiple reactions to these demands, and the overall opinion is that these demands are unrealistic.

India was the first nation to react on the record. “All the demands are very extreme and we are not willing to negotiate at this time. A month is too short a period of time to meet the demands because all the countries must come together to make a decision,” says India’s representative, Sabrina Bral. While India appears to care evenly about all the demands, Iran’s main concern is the Taliban’s demand for money. Kevin Bral of Iran stated that “the demand for 80 billion Pakistani rupees will be very difficult for the other members of the United Nations to agree upon. The concern is how much nuclear weaponry and technology the Taliban can gain from that kind of money.” Despite its views on the demands, Iran still wishes to sort the matter diplomatically. The representative of Pakistan, Charlie Montgomery, said that “the most unrealistic demand is that the democratically elected government of Pakistan should step down and declare Shariah law in the country.” Montgomery later added that the Taliban are “fear mongers” who are “not following the true word of Allah.”

US representative, Sarah Salek thoroughly expressed America’s policy of not negotiating with terrorists by stating that all of the demands are unrealistic, but mostly the demands for new leadership in Pakistan, a change to Shariah law, freeing hostages, and removing troops from the Middle East. The USA currently agrees with Iran that the demand for 80 billion rupees is problematic because it might supply the Taliban with the funds they need for more weaponry. Salek also noted, “Israel is one of our allies, and making them no longer a country is completely unrealistic.”

It is this news network’s opinion that all of the Taliban’s demands are unrealistic. Many of the countries in the UN believe that there will be no chance that any of the Taliban’s demands will be met. Despite this, many countries still want to solve this crisis diplomatically in order to mitigate the risk of nuclear war.

Written by Corey Parks

Edited by Jeffrey Albrecht