US Names Taliban Leader ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — As a result of the designation, the United States will freeze all of Baluch’s assets in US jurisdiction, according to the statement. Moreover, US citizens are prohibited from engaging in transactions with him.

“Today’s action highlights the Taliban’s continuing ties to al-Qaeda in Pakistan, its destabilizing criminal activity in Afghanistan, and its continued efforts to undermine US interests and harm US personnel in Afghanistan,” Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin said in the statement on Wednesday.

“Maulawi Abdul Rashid Baluch has been closely involved in violent attacks and illicit activities.”

The Treasury Department said Baluch had served as the terrorist group’s provincial shadow governor in Afghanistan’s Nimruz Province until 2012, and had been “actively involved” in the Taliban’s activities in the southwestern part of the country.

Baluch assisted in “logistical, and financial support roles,” from 2007 up until his July 2014 arrest by Afghan security forces, it added.

In 2013, Baluch ordered the placement of an improvised explosive device (IED), which exploded and killed a US solider in the Nimruz Province, the Treasury Department said. He also helped to deploy suicide bombers launch IED attacks against top Afghan government officials and NGO workers, as well as transported IEDs into Afghanistan to use against Coalition forces, the statement noted.

In addition, Baluch is said to have taken part in “multiple narcotics-related financial activities” on behalf of the Taliban including collecting and disbursing narcotics sales between top members of terrorist group and narcotics traffickers.

The militant group Taliban was formed in the 1990s and seeks to establish a Sharia-law governed emirate in Afghanistan.