Thaindian News

Washington, Oct 13 (ANI): The United States has indicated that it is open to the removal of more Taliban militants from a UN sanctions list in order to facilitate peace talks in Afghanistan.

Talking to reporters, State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley revealed that the department had supported to the list changes in the past, and further adjustments were “certainly possible,” The News reported.

He was responding to reports that a new Afghan peace council, set up to broker peace with the Taliban and bring an end to the war, had proposed removing Taliban members from a UN Security Council blacklist in order to promote reconciliation.

In August, the UN panel had removed 10 Taliban along with 35 Al-Qaeda members and affiliates from its sanctions terror list, following its first exhaustive review of 488 blacklisted names.

Individuals on the list are subject to asset freezes, a travel ban and an arms embargo, the paper said.

Crowley, however, poured cold water on the reports that the members of the peace council had also proposed that Washington release Taliban members detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison in a bid to facilitate peace process.

“I would not connect our ongoing activity to work to close the facility at Guantanamo with the efforts at reconciliation and reintegration in Afghanistan,” Crowley said.

Meanwhile, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has endorsed the Afghan government’s attempt to strike a peace accord with the Taliban rebels to end a war, which is now in its tenth year.

Richard Holbrooke, US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, also said that the United States welcomed Afghan reconciliation efforts but believed that the recent reports about secret talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government were exaggerated. (ANI)