February 29, 2000

Spring-time War and Peace Prospects in Afghanistan

As Taliban Prepare for Attack, Pakistani Media Blames Afghan Opposition
By Omar Samad
WASHINGTON - February 28, 2000 - AAR - Unlike other political hot-spots around the globe, the melting of snow and the blossoming of trees in Afghanistan does not only mark the arrival of spring and the celebration of the traditional Afghan

Bomb explodes outside Afghan information ministry
KABUL, Feb 29 (Reuters) - The Afghan capital Kabul was rocked by a bomb blast overnight, the fourth explosion in a month, but little damage was caused, witnesses said on Tuesday.

Afghan opposition rejects US human rights report
ISLAMABAD (NNI): The Anti-Taliban northern alliance in has rejected US human rights report on Afghanistan terming it incomplete and baseless.

Afghan Drug Control Effort Launched
By NICOLE WINFIELD c The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations has launched a $65 million drug control initiative in the countries that border Afghanistan, seeking to stem trafficking from the world's top producer of opium, a senior U.N. official said Monday.

UN Asking Afghanistan's Neighbors To Halt Drug Trade
Tuesday, February 29 12:31 PM SGT
UNITED NATIONS (AP)--The United Nations has launched a $65 million drug control initiative in the countries that border Afghanistan, seeking to stem trafficking from the world's top producer of opium, a senior U.N. official said Monday.

UN asks Afghanistan's neighbours to support drugs "security belt"
Tuesday, February 29 3:42 AM SGT
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 28 (AFP) - The United Nations on Monday asked the six countries bordering Afghanistan to support its strategy of building a "security belt" around that country to curb the flow of illegal drugs.

Taliban, Pakistan plotted Christmas-eve hijacking: India
Monday, February 28 11:18 PM SGT
NEW DELHI, Feb 28 (AFP) - India on Monday charged Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia and Pakistan of plotting with a Muslim guerrilla group in the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane with nearly 200 people on board in December.

Afghanistan called biggest illicit opium producer
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Afghanistan last year produced 75 percent of the world's illicit opium, enough to meet twice the annual demand for opium and heroin in that region, Western Europe and the United States combined, a U.N.

NGOs ask UN to monitor how sanctions hit Afghans
ISLAMABAD, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Aid agencies in Afghanistan said on Monday they had urged the United Nations to monitor the impact of its sanctions on Afghan civilians and not to expand the embargo.

India says plane hijackers still in Pakistan
NEW DELHI, Feb 28 (Reuters) - India said on Monday it believed the hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane were still in Pakistan and urged its estranged neighbour to extradite them to India.

Rabbani seeks Musharraf's help for peace in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD (NNI): The former Afghan president and head of the anti-Taliban northern alliance, Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani has urged Pakistan to adopt a neutral stand for the resolution of the Afghan conflict.

OIC Afghan peace initiative to succeed: Advisory Group
ISLAMABAD (NNI): The Foreign Policy Advisory Group Monday expressed the hope that the current initiative by OIC Contact Group led by Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran would bear fruit.