April 8, 2001

Afghan Taliban send high-level delegation to Qatar
DOHA, April 7 (Reuters) - High-level officials from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement arrived in Qatar on Saturday seeking humanitarian aid and political recognition.

Taliban urge Qatar to open OIC office in Kabul
Islamabad, April, 8, IRNA -- Taliban have urged Qatar, the current Chairman of Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to open its office in Kabul. The demand was made by the Taliban foreign minister

2 killed in clash between Taliban, local people in Khost
 Islamabad, April 7, IRNA -- Two people were killed and several injured in armed clashes between Taliban and Mangal tribal people, in Khost area of eastern Afghanistan, on Saturday.

General Dostum calls on Professor Rabbani
 Islamabad, April 7, IRNA -- Commander of the former Dostum Militia and Leader of the Junbash-e-Milli of Afghanistan, General Abdul Rashid Dostum

Younas Khalis supports Zahir Shah's Loya Jirga plan
 Islamabad, April 7, IRNA -- Chief of his own faction of Hizb-e-Islami of Afghanistan, Mohammad Younas Khalis on Saturday expressed his support for the efforts of former Afghan king,

'What I saw at Jalozai'
Dawn (Opinion)
By Jemima Khan
"Why don't you just drop a bomb on us and kill us all quickly? That would be better than letting us suffer like this, making us watch our own children die in front of us. At least then we would die with dignity,

The refugees Pakistan wants to forget
Electronic Telegraph
The world has abandoned the 80,000 in Jalozai in northern Pakistan. Jemima Khan describes their terrible plight and explains why she has been moved to set up her own fund to provide them with basic aid

Nowhere to turn Thousands of Afghan refugees are trapped in a Pakistani camp, cut off from U.N. aid
The Toronto Star
Martin Regg Cohn
JALOZAI, Pakistan - THEY HUDDLE under plastic sheeting and squat in makeshift latrines. Every day, at least one family watches a child die.

Do the Taliban really understand what they are doing?
Letter from america
The Daily Star Internet Edition
Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed writes from Princeton
Afghans may justifiably feel that the Americans have used them. American arms, agents and dollars flooded Afghanistan as long as the Soviets were occupying Afghanistan, between 1979 and 1989.

3 detained for trying to cross Tajik border for Afghanistan
Sunday, April 08, 2001 10:08 AM EST
DUSHANBE, Apr 08, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- Three people were detained when trying to trespass the Tajik border for Afghanistan on Saturday.

Two tank shells from Afghanistan blast on Tajik terrain
By Galina Gridneva, Valery Zhukov
Sunday, April 08, 2001
DUSHANBE, Apr 08, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- Two tank shells blasted 300 to 600 meters away from the Tajik frontier on the area controlled by the Moskovsky border unit on April 5 evening.

European overture to Afghan developments good omen: daily
Tehran, April 8, IRNA -- Two English-language dailies on Sunday commended the ongoing European tour of veteran commander of the Afghan North Alliance, Ahmad Shah Massoud and hoped

Taliban sack thousands of officials
Islamabad, April 8, IRNA -- Taliban have fired thousands of official and military officers on the charges of their links with the former communist regimes, officials said here. Taliban have admitted

Minorities tread carefully under Taliban
The Times of India
Pamela Constable
KABUL: On a recent spring morning, thousands of Shiite Muslims streamed up a hillside cemetery to a gleaming blue and yellow shrine, where they had come to celebrate the Persian New Year.

Indian chemical Afghan druglords can't do without
By Rajesh Ramachandran
The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Indian narcotics control officials are worried about a disturbing new trend: a vital chemical needed to convert opium into heroin is systematically being smuggled out of the country