The United Nations is reviewing its sanctions roster targeting Taliban and Al Qaeda figures following a call by last week’s peace conference in Afghanistan, the top UN envoy said on Saturday.
UN Security Council Resolution 1267 freezes the assets and limits the movements of senior Afghan-based militants, but recent efforts to include some Taliban in diplomacy have raised questions in Kabul about the blacklist’s appropriateness. Staffan de Mistura, the UN secretary-general’s special representative to Afghanistan, said a Security Council team had come in to discuss “updating” the 137-name list. It was expected to submit recommendations to the council by month’s end, he said.
“Updating means taking on or taking off based on additional new information. Some of the people in the list may not be alive any more. The list may be completely outdated ... Now it’s the right time,” Mr De Mistura told reporters.
“We are not going, of course, to prejudge the conclusions of this group ... but the fact that this is taking place so soon after the peace jirga (conference) and so soon after the appeal to look seriously at this list is a sign of proactivity.” “They are obviously hearing a message from Kabul.”
A statement summarising the June 2-4 meeting of 1,600 tribal and religious leaders in Kabul urged the Afghan government and foreign powers to “take serious action in getting the names of those in Opposition removed from the consolidated blacklist”. It also demanded amnesty for Afghans who have been jailed “based on inaccurate information or unsubstantiated allegations”.