\n The UN Security Council has lifted sanctions on the notorious Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, previously branded \"a global terrorist\" and accused of war crimes.\n<\/p>\n
\n The move follows a peace deal between Hekmatyar's insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami and the Afghan government in September that granted him legal immunity from past offences, sparking outrage from rights groups.\n<\/p>\n
\n Although Hekmatyar is accused of killing thousands in Kabul during the 1992-1996 civil war, many foreign governments, including the United States, praised the landmark accord as a step towards peace in Afghanistan.\n<\/p>\n
\n A statement on the UNSC's website Friday said an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo targeting Hekmatyar -- a former prime minister and one of the most controversial figures in Afghanistan's modern history -- no longer applied.\n<\/p>\n
\n Diplomatic sources said only Russia had opposed the move, which theoretically opens the way for Hekmatyar's return to Kabul after two decades of exile in Iran and then in Pakistan.\n<\/p>\n
\n France was initially reluctant because of Hezb-i-Islami's involvement in an ambush northeast of Kabul that cost the lives of 10 French soldiers in August 2008, but later changed its mind.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It is an important point of the peace agreement between Hezb-i-Islami and the Afghan government,\" chief negotiator for Hekmatyar, Mohammad Karim Amin, told AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"And it shows the commitment from the government and from the Hezb-i-Islami to pursue on this peace track,\" Karim said.\n<\/p>\n
\n It would also \"open the door\" and stimulate the peace process and would send a \"strong signal to other fighters\" in the country, he said in reference to the Taliban.\n<\/p>\n
\n He further said that it showed \"the only key to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict is through an inter-Afghan negotiation without any foreign interference\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We always said his return (Hekmatyar) won't be linked to the lift of the sanction but obviously it will widely ease it,\" Karim said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The whereabouts of Hekmatyar, who was not present in Kabul for the signing of the agreement that was completed via video conference -- remains unknown.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hekmatyar was a prominent anti-Soviet commander in the 1980s and a major figure during the bloody civil war of the 1990s when he was accused of indiscriminately firing rockets into Kabul, as well as other human rights abuses.\n<\/p>\n
\n In recent years the insurgent conflict has been led by the Taliban.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hekmatyar is believed to be in hiding in Pakistan, but his group claims he remains in Afghanistan.\n<\/p>\n
\n With the UN sanctions now scrapped, government officials expect Hekmatyar to return to the Afghan capital.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hezb-i-Islami has been trying to repair Hekmatyar's public image as a murderous warlord as it attempts to rebrand from a radical, misogynistic movement to a mainstream political force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UN Security Council has lifted sanctions on the notorious Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, previously branded \"a global terrorist\" and accused of war crimes. The move follows a peace deal between Hekmatyar's insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami and the Afghan government in September that granted him legal immunity from past offences, sparking outrage from rights groups. Although […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-31922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n