As a confidence building measure towards reconciliation, the UN Security Council Tuesday removed five top Taliban officials from its list of individuals who were subjected to sanctions imposed over their alleged links with Al-Qaeda.

The five officials removed from the UN list are Abdul Wakil Mutawakil, who was foreign minister under the now ousted Taliban regime; Faiz Mohammad Faizan, a former deputy commerce minister; Shams-US-Safa, a former foreign ministry official; Mohammad Musa, a deputy planning minister; and Abdul Hakim, a former deputy frontier affairs minister.

Under the resolution, UN member states are required to impose travel bans, an asset freeze and an arms embargo on any individual or entity associated with Al-Qaeda, bin Laden and/or theTaliban.

A Western diplomat said the five Taliban leaders were now believed to be “moderate Taliban officials” with whom Karzai could start a dialogue.

A UN statement said the Security Council panel on Monday “approved the deletion (de-listing) of the five entries” from its blacklist of individuals subjected to a travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo.

The move coincided with several announcements today marking a major shift in West’s policy towards the Afghan Taliban.

One of the announcements was by the Afghan President Hamid Karzai who said today he would press for Taliban names to be removed from the UN blacklist at a major conference on Afghanistan in London Thursday. Karzai hopes to win Western support at the London talks starting Jan 28 for a plan to offer money and jobs to persuadeTaliban fighters to lay down their weapons.

The UN move came ahead of the January 28, 60-country conference in London that is expected to discuss moves to reintegrate into mainstream Afghan society those Taliban who renounce terrorism and armed conflict.