KABUL - The United Nations is speeding up efforts that could lead to the removal of Taliban leaders from an international terrorist blacklist, according to the top UN official in Kabul. At a news conference on Saturday, the official, Mr Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-General's Special Representative to Afghanistan, said the UN was responding to the call of Afghanistan's recent consultative peace gathering, called a jirga, to de-list Taliban figures, the New York Times reported.
