UN eases sanctions on five Taliban leaders

The United Nations has removed five former Afghan Taleban officials from its sanctions list which was imposed because of alleged links to al-Qaeda.

The UN said the five would no longer be subject to international travel bans and a freeze on their assets.

The men include Abdul Wakil Mutawakil, who was a foreign minister when the Taleban were in power in Afghanistan.

Earlier, President Hamid Karzai called for removal of Taleban names from the UN list in a bid to reach out to them.

And Nato's top commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal had also expressed hope for a negotiated peace with the Taliban.

The UN Security Council panel decision comes days before an international conference on Afghanistan to be held in London.

'Gesture of support'

The panel "approved the deletion (de-listing) of the five entries" from its blacklist of individuals subjected to a travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo, the UN said in a statement.

The five men are former members of the Taliban government, and were put on the UN blacklist in 2001.

They were not active insurgents and there had already been debate within the UN sanctions committee on whether to remove them from the list.

Source:bbc.co.uk