WASHINGTON: The US Treasury today named senior Taliban official Maulawi Abdul Rashid Baluch, arrested by Afghan authorities a year ago, as a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist'.
The Treasury said Rashid had been the Taliban's shadow governor of Nimroz province in the country's southwest, where he helped arrange bombs and deployed suicide bombers aimed at coalition forces and Afghan officials.
Rashid was behind one improvised explosive device that killed a US soldier in mid-2013, the Treasury said.
He also allegedly raised money for the Taliban by offering protection of the narcotics trade in the region.
The 'Global Terrorist' designation freezes any assets he might have in US jurisdiction and forbids Americans from any dealings with him.