KABUL, Afghanistan – Fueling momentum for a political solution to the nearly nine-year-old Afghan war, a U.N. committee is reviewing whether certain people could be removed from a blacklist that freezes assets and limits travel of key Taliban and al-Qaida figures, the top U.N. representative said Saturday.

Delegates to a national conference, or peace jirga, held this month in Kabul called on the government and its international partners to remove some of the 137 people from the list — a long-standing Taliban demand.

Additional Photos

Delegates participate in a peace jirga in Kabul, Afghanistan, this month. The results of the three-day national conference included the request that certain people be removed from a blacklist that freezes their assets and limits travel. The Associated Press

“Some of the people in the list may not be alive anymore. The list may be completely outdated,” Staffan de Mistura, the top U.N. representative in Afghanistan, told reporters.

A committee is expected to complete its review June 30 and give its recommendations to the U.N. Security Council, which will make the final decision on whether to remove any names off the list. The U.S., Britain and France, who maintain troops here, wield veto power on the council and would have to agree to changes on the list.

“If we want the peace jirga to produce results, we need to keep momentum,” de Mistura said. “The aim is not war, it is reconciliation. And reconciliation can only take place through constructive inclusion.”

The peace jirga also supported the release of some Taliban prisoners in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and at Bagram Air Field north of the Afghan capital.

As a goodwill gesture to the militants, Afghan President Hamid Karzai promised to make the detainee issue a priority, and de Mistura said the U.N. supported efforts to release prisoners detained without legal basis.

Peace overtures to the insurgents come at a time when the U.S. and its partners are ramping up military operations. The Taliban also announced their own offensive last month aimed at forcing foreign troops from the country.

That has led to a sharp rise in bloodshed. So far in June, 38 coalition troops have been killed in Afghanistan, including 27 Americans. In the latest fighting, five Afghan police and two NATO service members died Saturday in separate blasts.

The policemen were riding in a vehicle that struck a bomb in the Khakrez district of Kandahar province, provincial Police Chief Sher Mohammed Zazai said.

NATO said an American service member died in a roadside bomb attack in northern Afghanistan. Poland’s Defense Ministry said a Polish soldier was killed in an explosion in Ghazni province.

Related Stories