by Xinhua writers Bai Jie, Cao Yiming

UNITED NATIONS, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations will cautiously review the Afghan government's request for lifting UN sanctions against 10 individuals and entities related to Taliban, a UN official told Xinhua.

Richard Barrett, coordinator of the monitoring team of the so-called 1267 Committee on al-Qaida and the Taliban, said removing former Taliban members from the decade-old sanction list has become a key issue for both the Afghan government and the Taliban especially after the Peace Jirga (national meeting) was held in Kabul in early June.

"(Afghan President Hamid) Karzai is offering it as a possibility, (as) the Taliban is demanding it as something they need in order to be able to stop fighting ... so it is quite important," said Barrett, who has been leading the UN panel that oversees the implementation of sanctions against the Taliban and al-Qaida since March 2004.

But whether to take the 10 names off the list depends on the members of the UN Security Council, Barrett said. "It doesn't depend on what the Afghan government wants, nor of course what the Taliban want."

"The Security Council has that list as part of its efforts to ensure international peace and security ... I think the council will be relatively cautious, but certainly very willing to look at any cases presented."

Last week, top UN envoy in Afghanistan Staffan De Mistura said the 10 names are in the process of being forwarded to the Security Council.

At the moment, the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against the Taliban and al-Qaida is reviewing all 488 names on the list, including 137 from the Taliban. The sanctions include an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

The review was supposed to be completed by June 30. But the deadline has been extended by one month because the committee still needs to assess more individuals.

In June, 1,600 participants to an Afghan national meeting, or the Peace Jirga, called for the removal of names from the list -- a long-standing demand of the Taliban to help promote reconciliation and a political solution to the nearly nine-year-old conflict after a Taliban regime was deposed.

Barrett said the Security Council will look at all requests for delisting on a case-by-case basis. "But what they want to be sure before they remove any name is if that person is not going to go back to fighting, to supporting al-Qaida, to disrespecting the Afghan people and the Afghan constitution."

He said the judgment of the Security Council will be influenced by that of the Afghan authorities and individual members of the council.
"It's better to ensure that somebody coming off will be better to stay off," he said. "What we have to do is to encourage an atmosphere within Afghanistan that supports peace ... that to supporting al-Qaida really the wrong thing to do in the individual's interest or in the country's interest."

Talking about Canadian Judge Kimberly Prost's recent appointment to the new position of the 1267 Committee ombudsman, Barrett said it is of huge significance.

The position of the ombudsman is to allow individuals who are affected by the sanctions regime to make representations to somebody who is not just their own government or member of the Security Council, said Barrett. The ombudsman could provide outside and independent opinion and will be able to deal directly with the individuals on the list.

Calling the appointment "a very exceptional move by the Security Council to allow an outside body to give an opinion," Barrett said the ombudsman will only operate for the 1267 Committee and for an initial period of 18 months.

"I think the Council will then want to see how it worked before spreading it across to the other sanction regimes," said Barrett.

"I'm sure Kimberly Prost will be very successful in that job and we look forward very much to working with her on the cases that come before that," he added.

Saba