Karzai To Ask UN To Trim Taliban Blacklist

Delegates to the recent so-called Peace Jirga listen to speeches in the main tent on June 4.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai reportedly plans to ask the United Nations to remove as many as 50 former Taliban members from a UN blacklist.

"The Washington Post" quotes an unnamed senior Afghan official as saying the move is aimed at advancing reconciliation talks with insurgents.

The daily said at least five of those named on the sanction list are former Taliban officials who now serve in parliament or privately mediate between the Afghan government and the insurgents battling NATO-led forces and their Afghan partners.

compiled from agency reports