United Nations: United Nations has removed
five top Taliban commanders including former foreign minister
Abdul Wakil Mutawakil from its sanctions list, to pave the way
for a reconciliation effort with the moderate militants in the
outfit.
Besides Mutawakil, four other Taliban commanders removed
from the list of individuals subjected to sanctions imposed
over their links to al Qaeda are Abdul Hakim, former deputy
foreign affairs minister, Faiz Mohammad Faizan, former deputy
commerce minister, Shams-us-Safa, a former official under the
Taliban and Mohammad Musa.
The move comes ahead of a major international conference
opening in London today to chalk out new measures for a
reconciliation in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai has also
called for removing some of the Taliban names from the UN
list, which was established under the resolution 1267 adopted
in 1999.
Under the sanctions, these leaders were under travel ban,
assets freeze and arms embargo. The UN said in a statement
that Hakim rejected the Taliban three years ago.
PTI
