Motasim removed from UN Sanctions list

Interesting to see that Agha Jan Motasim, the prominent former member of the Quetta Shura leadership of the Taliban, has been removed from the UN Sanctions list in recent days.
Now in Turkey, where he is receiving medical treatment following an August 2010 attempted assassination in Karachi, Motasim is a son-in-law of Taliban emir Mullah Mohammad Omar and a former finance minister for the Taliban. 

Support for negotiations - Motasim

 He headed the Quetta Shura until late 2009 when he was allegedly tried and found guilty by the Taliban of maintaining unauthorised contacts with Western diplomats and embezzlement. He was deposed by Abdul Ghani Baradar, who, together with Motasim, was later arrested by the Pakistan military. What lay behind this was the fact that Motasim was prepared to consider negotiations to end the war in Afghanistan, whilst Baradar was more reticent.
Both men were released last year following pressure from the United States and soon after Motasim was shot several times in Karachi by members of the Taliban. He then turned up in Turkey and in May gave an interview to Newsweek in which he set out his political stall.
The UN Sanctions list is presently undergoing a review. It is a key demand of the Taliban that its members should be removed from the list.