Getting your player ready...
KABUL — A top U.N. official said Tuesday that the Taliban in Afghanistan should be treated separately from al-Qaeda extremists as nations weigh sanctions against the two groups, a step that could help clear a path for negotiations with the Taliban.
Removal from the U.N. sanctions list, commonly called the blacklist, has been one of the preconditions of the Taliban for entering peace talks with the Afghan government.
Treating the Taliban separately from al-Qaeda extremists, who have a global agenda while the Taliban have an Afghan-only one, might be seen as a step toward such removal and signal that the Taliban was seen as a group that could be negotiated with.
