September 2, 1998

U.S. company signs Afghan telecom contract
09:27 p.m Sep 02, 1998 Eastern
KABUL, Sept 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. telecommunications company signed an agreement with Afghanistan's Taleban movement government on Wednesday to install a communication network across the war-torn country, a company official said.

U.S. Co., Afghan Rulers Sign Pact

Wednesday, September 2, 1998; 1:13 p.m. EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A U.S. company signed a $240 million contract Wednesday with Afghanistan's strict Islamic government to build a communication network in the war-shattered nation.
Pakistan closes six Afghan educational centres in border region
Wed 02 Sep 98 - 14:21 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sept 2 (AFP) - Authorities have closed down six Afghan educational centres in Pakistan because their students are allegedly involved in political activities, official sources said Wednesday.

Pak administration closes down four Afghan schools

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have forcefully closed down Afghan educational institutions in Peshawar, capital of the Frontier province, bordering Afghanistan.
Taliban claim US missile find in Kandahar
Wed 02 Sep 98 - 13:53 GMT

ISLAMABAD, Sept 2 (AFP) - Afghan Taliban soldiers have found the wreckage of an unexploded American cruise missile on a mountaintop in the southern province of Kandahar, a senior Taliban spokesman said Wednesday.

Afghan Taleban Says Finds Dud U.S. Cruise Missile
11:07 a.m. Sep 02, 1998 Eastern

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taleban militia said Wednesday it had found an unexploded U.S. cruise missile that crashed into a mountain close to suspected terrorist camps in eastern Afghanistan on Aug. 20.
Taliban may release three Iranian truck drivers Thursday
Wed 02 Sep 98 - 13:39 GMT

ISLAMABAD, Sept 2 (AFP) - Iran's charge d'affaires in Islamabad is expected to accompany Pakistani officials into Afghanistan to receive three Iranian truck drivers to be freed by the Taliban militia, a Taliban official said Wednesday.

Afghan Taleban offer to release three Iranians
07:00 a.m. Sep 02, 1998 Eastern

By Tahir Ikram

ISLAMABAD, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Islamic Taleban movement offered on Wednesday to release three Iranian truck drivers as a gesture of goodwill to Tehran, a Pakistan-based Afghan news service said.
Taliban warn Iran against invasion
Wed 02 Sep 98 - 13:35 GMT

ISLAMABAD, Sep 2 (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban militia Wednesday warned Tehran that its Ashura-3 military exercises must remain inside Iran's borders, Taliban's senior spokesman Mulla Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel told AFP.
Iran turns up heat on Taliban militia in Afghanistan
Wed 02 Sep 98 - 12:23 GMT

TEHRAN, Sept 2 (AFP) - Iran stepped up political and military pressure on the Taliban Islamic militia controlling Afghanistan on Wednesday, but newspapers here warned against intervention in its strife-torn neighbour.
Iran calls on UN to set up probe into missing diplomats
Wed 02 Sep 98 - 07:34 GMT

TEHRAN, Sept 2 (AFP) - Iran has called on the United Nations to send a international mission to look into the fate of diplomats it says are being held captive by the hardline Taliban militia in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Iran to extend troop deployment near Afghan border
Wed 02 Sep 98 - 06:21 GMT

TEHRAN, Sept 2 (AFP) - Iranian forces will remain near the Afghan border even after the end of three days of unprecedented military exercises there, a top military commander said on Wednesday.

FOCUS-Iran stages manoeuvres near Afghan border
07:53 a.m. Sep 02, 1998 Eastern

TEHRAN, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Some 70,000 Iranian troops staged attacks on mock enemy positions near the border with Afghanistan on Wednesday, amid mounting tension between the two states.

Taliban term Iranian exercises a cover up for failure

ISLAMABAD: The Taliban Information and Culture Minister, Mulla Amir Khan Multaqi has said Taliban want good relations with their neighbors, respect their borders and expect the same from them.

Pakistan refuses to sign CTBT under sanctions, urges UN to adopt vacant seat formula on Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: World seventh declared nuclear power, Pakistan has declared that it will not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) while being under economic sanctions imposed by US and Japan after its May 28 nuclear tests.

Benazir for deadline to Taliban over Iranian diplomats issue

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's leader of opposition Benazir Bhutto has demanded from the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to give a deadline to the Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan for the release of Iranian diplomats.

A fateful turn of events

Suroosh Irfani
The News: jang (Opinion)

There is something fateful about America's August 20 airstrikes against Afghanistan. In using its cruise missiles against military bases that CIA and Pakistan Army engineers helped build in Jalalabad and Khost during the anti Soviet Afghan

Afghanistan Weekly Update No. 279

Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Date: 02 Sep 1998

Pledges and Contributions

The Government of Belgium has contributed US$273,300 to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan to fund mine awareness activities.

Govt reiterates stand on Afghan DPs repatriation

From SHAUKAT PIRACHA
Frontier Post

ISLAMABAD - The Senate was informed on Tuesday that the government is affirmed to repatriate the Afghan refugees to their native land but there must be conducive circumstances for the repatriation. "We are clear on two things; the

Kabul, Ashgabad forge closer trade relations

By AIMAL KHAN
Frontier Post

PESHAWAR - While the other Central Asian Republics (CARs) are openly siding with the Afghan opposition in its war efforts against the student militia, Taliban are making efforts to improve trade relations with Turkmenistan. The war-

A Brush With Laden on the Jihad Front Line

Edward Girardet
Christian Science Monitor
Opinion/Essays
Monday August 31, 1998

A week before the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, I traveled there to report on the final days of the decade-long Red Army occupation.