Two Afghan education ministers are no longer allowed to travel abroad for peace talks after the UN Security Council removed them from the sanctions list, strategists said on Tuesday. The move – unanimously agreed by the Security Council’s Taliban sanctions committee – comes after the Taliban backed out in March with its promise to reopen girls’ high schools, saying they would remain closed until Islamic law-enforcement plans were reopened. .
Dozens of Taliban members have already received targeted UN sanctions – travel bans, suspensions, and arms embargoes. But exemptions from the travel ban were allowed by some leaders to allow them to participate in peace talks. The Taliban Security Council agreed on Monday to extend the ban on the departure of 13 Taliban leaders, but removed Deputy Minister of Education Said Ahmad Shahidkhel and Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Basir Awal Shah from the release list, strategists said.
