“We welcome the recent announcement of United Nations of removing name of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hizb-e-Islami of Afghanistan, and we are optimistic the move would further boost peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan,” said Mohammad Akram Khpalwak, presidential adviser on political affairs, Xinhua reported. 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. In September last year, Hekmatyar signed a peace agreement with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, which was brokered by the Afghan High Peace Council after two years of negotiations, via a video conference broadcast by the state-run TV. While playing only a small role in the current insurgent conflict in Afghanistan, Hekmatyar was 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. 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.
The United Nations drop sanctions on Gulbuddin Hekmatyar after his Hezb-e Islami faction and the Afghan government reached a deal in September. Hekmatyar is granted immunity in exchange for his abandoning violence and supporting the Constitution of Afghanistan.