UN removes senior ex-Taliban officials from sanctions list

The United Nations announced on Tuesday the removal of five senior ex-Taliban officials from its sanctions list.

A press release said that the Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee approved on Monday the de-listing of the five people in its so-called Consolidated List.

"The assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo" set out in Security Council resolutions, "therefore no longer apply to the following five individuals," it said.

The five were high-ranking officials of the former Taliban government, which was toppled by U.S.-led coalition forces shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

They are Fazl Mohammad Faizan, former deputy commerce minister; Abdul Hakim Monib, former deputy minister of frontier affairs; Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, former foreign minister; Shams-US-Safa Aminzai, former foreign ministry press officer; Mohammad Musa Hottak, former deputy minister of planning.

Their de-listing from the UN list came after a recent announcement by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that he would propose lifting UN sanctions against some Taliban leaders at the upcoming international conference on Afghanistan in London.

He said the move would be part of a reconciliation plan to seek a political solution to Afghanistan's internal strife.

The UN sanctions list was first established by the Security Council in resolution 1267 adopted in 1999 to cover individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. It was subject to constant review and modification by the Security Council.

Source: Xinhua