Pakistan sanctions Taliban 'to avoid global finance blacklist'
Pakistan has issued sweeping financial sanctions against Afghanistan's Taliban, just as the rebel group is in the middle of a United States-led peace process in the neighbouring country.
The orders, which were made public late on Friday, identified dozens of individuals, including the Taliban's chief peace negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and several members of the Haqqani family, including Sirajuddin, the current head of the Haqqani Network and deputy head of the Taliban.
The list of sanctioned groups included others besides the Taliban and was in keeping with a five-year-old United Nations resolution sanctioning the Afghan group and freezing their assets.
The orders were issued as part of Pakistan's efforts to avoid being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors money laundering and tracks "terrorist" groups' activities, according to security officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.