UN Fails to Close Down Afghan Taliban in Pakistan, Paper Says

Islamabad, Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan's Taliban movement says it knows nothing of a report that the Pakistani government ordered its local offices closed and the financial assets of the Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden, frozen to comply with United Nations sanctions, the Gulf News daily reported.

This followed a report in an English-language newspaper in Pakistan saying that the interior ministry had ordered the closure of the offices of the Taliban and Afghanistan's national carrier, Ariana, the Gulf News said. The agency didn't name the newspaper.

The sanctions include an arms embargo, a ban on senior Taliban officials traveling abroad and closing its overseas offices.