January 26, 1999

Taliban claim killing 20 opposition troops in northwest: report
Tue 26 Jan 99 - 13:25 GMT
ISLAMABAD, Jan 26 (AFP) - The Taliban claimed Tuesday its forces had killed 20 opposition soldiers in fighting in northwest Afghanistan, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported.

CORRECTED-INTERVIEW-Taleban assure U.N. on bin Laden
06:28 a.m. Jan 26, 1999 Eastern
By Andrew Hill
ISLAMABAD, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The Taleban have assured the United Nations its staff would not be under threat from Saudi terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden if they return to Afghanistan, the world body's Afghan aid chief said on Tuesday.

FOCUS-Turkmenistan, Pakistan upbeat on pipeline
06:19 a.m. Jan 26, 1999 Eastern
ISLAMABAD, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan and Pakistan agreed on Tuesday to set up a commission to push ahead with a stalled project to pipe Turkmen gas across war-torn Afghanistan to Pakistan.

Turkmen FM arrives for Afghan talks
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Boris Sheikh Muratov arrived in Islamabad on three-day official visit to Pakistan on Monday for talks on bilateral issues, focussing on Afghan crisis.

'$1.9 bn Turkmen-Pakistan gas pipeline project to go ahead'
The News: Jang
ISLAMABAD: Turkmenistan Foreign Minister Boris Shikhmuradov said here on Monday that $1.9 billion gas pipeline project from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan was intact despite the UNOCAL's decision to abandon the project.

Taliban official arrives to join peace parleys
Frontier Post

By AIMAL KHAN

PESHAWAR - A senior official of the Taliban government, Maulvi Wakeel Ahmad, arrived in the federal capital Monday for talks with Turkmenistan Foreign Minister Boris Shikhmuradov.

Taliban ask UN staff to return to Afghanistan
Frontier Post
KANDAHAR (Agencies) - Taliban on Monday urged a senior United Nations official to send back the UN international staff to Afghanistan, assuring him that the Islamic militia would provide protection to the UN staff members, Taliban sources said.

Taliban release Iranian trucks seized in Afghanistan
Tue 26 Jan 99 - 12:16 GMT
TEHRAN, 26 jan (AFP) - Twenty-one trucks seized by the Taliban militia in Afghanistan in August arrived back in Iran on Tuesday, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.

Over 60 killed in fighting in Afghanistan: Report
ISLAMABAD: More than 60 people were killed in the past few days during fighting between the Taliban militia and opposition forces in northern and northwestern Afghanistan.

Egg fighting: Tribesmen call for handing over Taliban officials
MIRAN SHAH (North Waziristan): An Afghan tribe in the western province of Khost has demanded of Taliban authorities to hand over the militia officials involved in the killing of several people last week.

Mending fences with Tehran
Dawn (Opinion)
By Mahdi Masud
WITH the exception of China, (and the Taliban), Pakistan's relations with its neighbours are either strained as with India and the Russian Federation or are in a flux as with Iran.