The United States has said “they never get ahead of sanctions decisions” on Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as a landmark peace agreement was signed between the party the Afghan government last week.
In response to a question whether the US will pull out Hekmatyar’s name from global terrorist list, the State Department Press Office Director, Elizaabeth Trudeau, said “Well, as you know, we never get ahead of sanctions decisions. I won’t do that now. I think we spoke about that agreement when it was first announced out of Kabul and we welcome that. But in terms of individual actions on sanctions, I will not get ahead of that.”
The draft peace agreement between the Afghan government and Hezb-e-Islami was formally signed during a special ceremony organized in ARG Presidential Palace last Thursday.
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ratified the draft peace agreement signed by the delegation of Hezb-e-Islami and Afghanistan High Peace Council over two weeks ago.
Ahead of the formal signing of the peace agreement by President Ghai, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s son, Habib-ur-Rehman, said the international community has agreed to lift restrictions and sanctions on Hezb-e-Islami and meetings have been organized with the key embassies in Kabul in this regard.
Hekmatyar himself was designated by the U.S. as a “global terrorist” in 2003. He was blacklisted at Washington’s request by the U.N. the same year, and has similar status with the British government.
Source Khaama Press
