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Five Taliban members have been removed from a United Nations Security Council sanctions list

They include Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad Awrang a former Taliban envoy to the UN, and Abdul Salaam Zaeef, a former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan and also former Deputy Minister of Mines.

The other de-listed men are former Deputy Minister of Health, Abdul Satar Paktin and the two now dead officials, Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, the former governor of Bamian Province, and Abdul Samad Khaksar, the former deputy interior minister.

The decision to release the five Taliban members from an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo was taken as part of an overall review of the United Nations sanctions list, which includes about 500 individuals and entities allegedly linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The Afghan President Hamid Karzai has recently been asking for such a move in order to ease reconciliation talks with insurgents.

Russia has been the most reluctant to accept removing any of the Taliban from the list, worried that their reappearance could help fuel Islamic militancy in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and across the Caucasus.

The sanctions committee has spent months reviewing the full list of about 500 names or organisations linked to either Al-Qaeda or the Taliban, and are scheduled to release the results on Monday.