UN removes former Afghan warlord from blacklist

KABUL/ AP

The United Nations has removed the name of a former Afghan warlord from its IS group and al-Qaida sanctions list.
According to a statement posted Friday by the Security Council, a UN committee removed Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s name from the sanctions list. The statement said Hekmatyar, leader of Islamist organization Hezb-i-Islami, would no longer have his assets frozen, be subject to a travel ban or to an arms embargo.
Amin Karim, the group’s chief negotiator told reporters on Saturday “The removal of sanctions proved that the solution is Afghan-owned negotiations inside the country and coming to a national consensus. If Afghans come to such a conclusion the international community is supportive of the peace process and it is good news for peace and the Afghan nation.”
Hekmatyar, a former warlord who battled U.S. forces after the 2001 invasion and nursed bitter rivalries with other Afghan factions, agreed to lay down arms last year. Karim had earlier told The Associated Press that he would return to the capital in “a matter of weeks, not months.” Hekmatyar is seen as a potential rival to President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, who have governed the country through a shaky, US-brokered power-sharing agreement since the disputed elections of 2014. His return could stir up new political uncertainty as the government struggles to confront a reinvigorated Taliban that has been advancing on several fronts. In September, Ghani signed a peace treaty with Hekmatyar in which Ghani pledged to lobby the US and the United Nations to remove him and his party from terrorist blacklists.