US Treasury targets Afghan national for Taliban explosives

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday named an Afghan national as being instrumental in improvised explosive devices (IED) attacks by the Taliban and banned Americans from having business transactions with him.

Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said Abdul Samad Achekzai participated in attacks in Afghanistan on behalf of the Taliban.

He also helped recruit Taliban suicide bombers to conduct attacks in 2011, and he oversaw IED training in support of Taliban fighters in western and southern Afghanistan, according to the Treasury.

OFAC said this was the first sanction specifically targeting the Taliban's IED manufacturing and support network. It is part of U.S. efforts to identify and cut off from the international financial system members of organizations it deems to be terrorist.

"As a key official in the Taliban's IED supply network, Abdul Samad Achekzai is responsible for untold death and suffering. IEDs are the leading cause of casualties among coalition troops and civilians in Afghanistan," said the office's director, Adam Szubin. (Reporting By Margaret Chadbourn; Editing by Vicki Allen)