Bilal_Mushi
Minister (2k+ posts)
Imran Khan message of talks and reconciliation with Taliban is spreading.
UN removes 14 Taliban members from sanctions list
“All Afghans are encouraged to join these efforts. The message is clear: engaging for peace pays off,” said Wittig. - File Photo
NEW YORK: The UN Security Council committee overseeing sanctions on Friday removed 14 Taliban leaders from an international blacklist in order to encourage peaceful reconciliation in war-torn Afghanistan.
Germany’s UN ambassador Peter Wittig, who heads the Security Council for the month of July, said the decision “sends a strong signal: the Security Council and the international community support the efforts of the Afghan government to engage reconciled Taliban in a political dialogue in order to achieve peace and security in Afghanistan.”
The 14 Taliban on the list include Arsalan Rahmani Daulat, Habibullah Fawzi, Sayeedur Rahman Haqani and Faqir Mohammad, all members of Afghanistan’s peace council, Wittig said.
“The international community recognizes efforts made by member of the High Peace Council to work towards peace, stability, and reconciliation,” said Wittig.
“All Afghans are encouraged to join these efforts. The message is clear: engaging for peace pays off,” said Wittig.
Ahead of the Friday decision, 137 members of the Taliban were on a sanctions list that called for an asset freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo.
Wittig did not release the names of the other Taliban members removed from the list.
The United Nations Security Council on June 17 split the international sanctions regime for the Taliban and al Qaeda to encourage the Taliban to join reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan.
The council unanimously passed two resolutions that set up one new blacklist of individuals and organizations accused of links to al Qaeda and a second for those linked to the Taliban militia.
The two groups have until now been handled by the same sanctions committee.
But the international powers wanted to separate them to highlight the divide between Al-Qaeda’s global jihadist agenda and the Taliban’s focus on Afghanistan.
The sanctions committee was set up in 1999 when al Qaeda had major bases in the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan until they were driven out of power by US-led forces.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/16/un-removes-14-taliban-members-from-sanctions-list.html
Imran Khan hits at US strategy
By Peter Foster
12:01AM GMT 03 Nov 2001
AMERICA and Britain committed a "huge blunder" by rushing into military action against Afghanistan and played into the hands of Osama bin Laden, Imran Khan said yesterday.
The former Pakistani cricketer said the bombing campaign had swung Pakistan public opinion behind bin Laden and the Taliban at the very moment when they were losing popular support.
Pakistan's president, Gen Pervaiz Musharraf, now faced a "rising tide of anger" as initial revulsion against the September 11 attacks was superseded by anti-Western sentiment, he added.
"It was a huge blunder to start the bombing so quickly. I still say it was the wrong move and one that has actually helped the terrorists," Mr Khan, leader of the Pakistan Movement for Justice, told an audience at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, London.
He said: "The September 11 terrorists wanted the Islamic world to be pitted against the West; they wanted to sow a feeling of injustice in the Muslim world so they could recruit more terrorists."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...n/1361392/Imran-Khan-hits-at-US-strategy.html
UN removes 14 Taliban members from sanctions list

Germany’s UN ambassador Peter Wittig, who heads the Security Council for the month of July, said the decision “sends a strong signal: the Security Council and the international community support the efforts of the Afghan government to engage reconciled Taliban in a political dialogue in order to achieve peace and security in Afghanistan.”
The 14 Taliban on the list include Arsalan Rahmani Daulat, Habibullah Fawzi, Sayeedur Rahman Haqani and Faqir Mohammad, all members of Afghanistan’s peace council, Wittig said.
“The international community recognizes efforts made by member of the High Peace Council to work towards peace, stability, and reconciliation,” said Wittig.
“All Afghans are encouraged to join these efforts. The message is clear: engaging for peace pays off,” said Wittig.
Ahead of the Friday decision, 137 members of the Taliban were on a sanctions list that called for an asset freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo.
Wittig did not release the names of the other Taliban members removed from the list.
The United Nations Security Council on June 17 split the international sanctions regime for the Taliban and al Qaeda to encourage the Taliban to join reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan.
The council unanimously passed two resolutions that set up one new blacklist of individuals and organizations accused of links to al Qaeda and a second for those linked to the Taliban militia.
The two groups have until now been handled by the same sanctions committee.
But the international powers wanted to separate them to highlight the divide between Al-Qaeda’s global jihadist agenda and the Taliban’s focus on Afghanistan.
The sanctions committee was set up in 1999 when al Qaeda had major bases in the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan until they were driven out of power by US-led forces.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/16/un-removes-14-taliban-members-from-sanctions-list.html
Imran Khan hits at US strategy
By Peter Foster
12:01AM GMT 03 Nov 2001
AMERICA and Britain committed a "huge blunder" by rushing into military action against Afghanistan and played into the hands of Osama bin Laden, Imran Khan said yesterday.
The former Pakistani cricketer said the bombing campaign had swung Pakistan public opinion behind bin Laden and the Taliban at the very moment when they were losing popular support.
Pakistan's president, Gen Pervaiz Musharraf, now faced a "rising tide of anger" as initial revulsion against the September 11 attacks was superseded by anti-Western sentiment, he added.
"It was a huge blunder to start the bombing so quickly. I still say it was the wrong move and one that has actually helped the terrorists," Mr Khan, leader of the Pakistan Movement for Justice, told an audience at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, London.
He said: "The September 11 terrorists wanted the Islamic world to be pitted against the West; they wanted to sow a feeling of injustice in the Muslim world so they could recruit more terrorists."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...n/1361392/Imran-Khan-hits-at-US-strategy.html
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