In October 1996, Afghanistan was placed under a non-mandatory arms embargo through UN Security Council Resolution 1076. This was in reaction to the continued conflict in Afghanistan. Although this has never been officially lifted in any subsequent resolution, its purpose has been rendered obsolete by the adoption of a mandatory arms embargo.
In December 2000 UN Security Council Resolution 1333 established an arms embargo on those parts of Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban. The imposition of an arms embargo on part of the territory of a state raised different implementation challenges from an embargo on a state. Therefore a Committee of Experts prepared a report on how implementation of the embargo could be monitored (S/2001/511). A Monitoring Group was established in July 2001 in response to UN Security Council Resolution 1363.
In January 2002 UN Security Council Resolution 1390 modified the arms embargo to apply to any sale or supplies to either the Taliban or to the Al-Qaeda organization regardless of location.