June 21, 2000

PAKISTAN PREPARES ITSELF FOR A BIG OFFENSIVE IN AFGHANISTAN
As recieved by AAR from Payem-i-Mojahid
Washington DC - June 19: Prepartions for launching a major offensive by the Pakistanis and the Taliban against the Mujahideen in Shemali and Kunduz fronts of Afghanistan have been almost completed and fighting could start any moment.

Moves towards Afghan PoW swap - 6/20
The warring sides in Afghanistan say they have agreed on the first step towards a large-scale prisoner exchange.
Officials said representatives from the ruling Taleban and the opposition would visit each other's jails to list and identify those held.

Russia says Tajik peacekeeper force to be disbanded
MOSCOW, June 20 (Reuters) - A senior Russian general said on Tuesday that Moscow is to disband its peacekeeping force in the Central Asian state of Tajikistan three years after a peace deal there ended a long civil war, Interfax news agency reported.

Afghans leaving Iran face uncertain future at home
From Ali Rezvani - Our Tehran Correspondent - Gulf News 6/20
Standing in long queues in a United Nations (UN) camp located outside the eastern city of Mashad, hundreds of tired-looking Afghan refugees wearing tattered clothes waited to receive the $20 the UN paid them before they returned to a war-torn Afghanistan - and an uncertain future.

UN aid to repatriate Afghans insufficient
Mashhad, June 21, IRNA -- Director-General of Asia-African affairs of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees expressed his dissatisfaction with United Nations aid to Iran to repatriate refugees, calling it "meager."

Turkmen coyness risks scaring gas partners away
By Mike Collett-White
ASHGABAT, June 20 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov has revelled in the attention paid to him and his gas-rich state by suitors as splendid as the United States, Russia, Turkey and Iran.

China's Jiang to attend summit in Tajikistan
BEIJING, June 20 (Reuters) - Chinese President Jiang Zemin will attend a summit of the so-called Shanghai Five -- China, Russia, and three Central Asian states -- in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on July 5, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Philippine Rebels, bin Laden Linked
By JIM GOMEZ
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Muslim guerrillas recently received $3 million from suspected international terrorist Osama bin Laden to buy new weapons, a top military official said Tuesday.

No intention to intervene in Deeni Maderasas' affairs: Moin
The News Int. (Pak) - 6/21
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Lt-Gen (retd) Moinuddin Haider on Tuesday said the government had no intention to intervene into the affairs of Deeni Maderasas. Talking to newsmen here at CDA, the minister denied any crack-down on Deeni Maderasas was being contemplated.

Excerpets from DAWN Opinion Piece on 6/21:
By M.H. Askari
PAKISTAN's relations with the US, which have been under considerable strain ever since the nuclear tests in Chaghi in May 1998, appear to have become a cause of serious concern for Islamabad in the aftermath of last year's Kargil crisis....