April 6, 2000

Afghan Leader Ready to Play Role To Help Resolve Conflict
Escape From Taliban Prison called “Daring and Miraculous”
By Omar Samad
WASHINGTON - April 6, 2000 - AAR - Less than two weeks after a stunning daylight jail break from the Taliban militia’s de facto capital, Ismael Khan - one of Afghanistan’s veteran resistance leaders during the Soviet

Escaped opposition leader in Afghanistan - Iran TV
TEHRAN, April 5 (Reuters) - Iranian television on Wednesday aired what it said was an interview with Afghan opposition commander Ismail Khan in which he said he was still in Afghanistan after escaping from a Taleban government jail last month.

Taliban Destroys Poppy Fields
.c The Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's Taliban rulers said Wednesday they had set fire to nearly 400 acres of poppy crops, something they promised the United Nations they would do in order to cut back on production of the flower used to

India lukewarm on Turkmenistan's cross-country gas pipeline project
NEW DELHI, April 6 (AFP) - India gave a lukewarm response to a plan by Turkmenistan to lay a gas pipeline through Afghanistan and Pakistan to India, an official said Thursday.

Afghanistan, Turkmenistan sign power supply accord
ISLAMABAD (NNI): Afghanistan and Turkmenistan have signed cooperation accord for power supply to the war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Peace in the pipeline - Building Ties In South And West Asia
By JON STOCK- IN NEW DELHI - The Straight Times
A SERIES of lucrative new gas pipelines proposed this week could pave the way for greater regional peace in South and West Asia, particularly between India and its rival Islamic neighbours.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister holds talks with Pakistan Foreign Minister
ISLAMABAD (April 6) : Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohsen Aminzadeh on Wednesday met Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar and discussed matters of mutual interest with special focus on Kashmir and Afghanistan.

UNHCR, UNICEF officials meet Afghan Minister
ISLAMABAD (NNI): The Taliban Deputy Foreign Minister Abdur Rehman Zahid met representatives of UNHCR and UNICEF at his office in Kabul, reports Radio Shariat.

Taliban may allow Chechen Govt.-in-exile in Afghanistan
MOSCOW: The Taliban, which has recognised the breakaway Chechen republic of the Russian federation, may allow the militant leaders to set up a government-in-exile on the territory controlled by them, according to General Leonid Ivashnov,

FBI to assist in IA hijack probe- The Times of India News Service
NEW DELHI: US Federal Bureau of Investigation director Louis Freeh has assured India of ``active assistance'' in investigating the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Afghanistan in December last.

Life sentence for Sharif
BBC
The ousted Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has been sentenced to life imprisonment on two charges of hijacking and terrorism.

Islam and democracy are compatible: Ecevit
By Umashankar Phadnis - Times of India
NEW DELHI: During his three-day visit to India, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit ended an era of estrangement between the two countries which had pervaded relations during the cold war years.