December 13, 2000

US Congressmen Prod Afghans to Take Action
Informal Afghan Gathering Calls for Plan and Date to Hold 'Grand Assembly'
By Omar Samad
WASHINGTON, Dec.12, 2000 - AAR - More than two dozen Afghans were invited to Washington and - according to organizers of the event

Taliban Will Boycott Afghan Peace Talks If Sanctions Imposed
Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan, Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The militant Taliban rulers of Afghanistan will boycott United Nations-led peace talks if threatened sanctions are imposed, Agence France- Presse said, citing Taliban officials.

Mulla Omar seeks Chinese support against sanction - From Tahir Khan
ISLAMABAD (NNI): Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Lu Shulin Tuesday held talks with Taliban supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar in Kandahar on host of issues, focussing on the possibility of more sanctions, Afghan sources confirmed in Islamabad.

Tajik leader supports Russian,US initiatives for Afghanistan
DUSHANBE, December 12 (Itar-Tass) - Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergei Ivanov have discussed the regional security and the Afghan standing, Rakhmonov's press secretary Zafar Saidov said.

Turkmen leader calls for promotion of Afghan settlement
ASHGABAT, December 12 (Itar-Tass) - Saparmurat Niyazov, President of neutral Turkmenistan, has said he is ready to give "a horse for peace in Afghanistan," a periphrasis for the famed "half-kingdom for a horse."

Proposed Taliban Sanctions Worry UN
By NICOLE WINFIELD
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The sanctions that the United States and Russia want imposed against Afghanistan could worsen the country's humanitarian situation and harm prospects for peace talks, some U.N. officials say.

Struggle to survive plumbs new lows in Afghanistan
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Despite two decades of war, life in Afghanistan has never been as hard as this winter when hundreds of thousands are struggling just to survive.

Afghan Taliban appeal to OIC chief to block expected sanctions
KABUL, Dec 12 (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban authorities Tuesday called on the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to help block additional United Nations sanctions.

US-Russian stand on embargo worries humanitarians
ISLAMABAD (NNI): As a "punishment" for alleged support of terrorism, senior US and Russian officials say their resolution at the UN Security Council would add an arms embargo to existing sanctions on the ruling Taliban Islamic Movement of Afghanistan.

AAR Editors' Note 12/13/ 00:
It is becoming obvious that Pakistan-based individuals and organizations with deeply vested interests in the misery of Afghans - the Duprees and De Muls of this tragic scene - and those who

Afghan scholar and minsiter dies - BBC
The prominent Afghan scholar and politician, Mohammad Asghar Khan, has died in Kabul at the age of eighty-nine.

INTERVIEW-US clandestine service steps in when all else fails
By Tabassum Zakaria
LANGLEY, Va., Dec 12 (Reuters) - Somewhere between the art of diplomacy and the bludgeon of military action lies the craft of covert operation -- the silent solution to U.S. national security problems when the other two will not do.