Afghanistan: UN takes Hekmatyar off terrorist list

NEW YORK (AA) – The United Nations Friday removed the name of an Afghan rebel leader from its list of designated terrorists.

In a statement, the UN said a Security Council committee removed Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s name from the Daesh and al-Qaeda sanctions list.

Hekmatyar, a famous rebel leader from the Soviet-Afghan War era, was blacklisted by the UN in 2003 over suspected ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and his group, Hezb-i-Islami, was listed as a terrorist organization.

Hekmatyar last September inked a landmark peace deal with Kabul that has paved the way for his return to the political arena. He is currently believed to be at a secret location in Pakistan.

Last year Afghan President Ashraf Ghani formally requested during a meeting with a UN Security Council delegation that Hekmatyar’s name be removed from the UN blacklist.

The 69-year old originally hails from the northern Kunduz province and began his career fighting the Soviets and then various factions of the Mujahedeen during the civil war of the 1990s, before later going into self-imposed exile.​