January 18, 2000

Fact Sheet on Taliban Rule in Afghanistan State Department information contrasts myth and reality

Geopolitics of an Afghan Settlement By Peter Tomsen

Afghanistan's Taleban urges UN to halt sanctions
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's ruling Taleban urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to reconsider tougher new sanctions a day before they are due to go into effect.

Retaliation in USS Cole case looks left to Bush
WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The Clinton administration indicated on Wednesday that it planned no retaliatory action against those responsible for the attack on the USS Cole, leaving that issue to President-elect George W. Bush.

US official says Afghanistan center of terrorism
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Afghanistan is the "center of terrorism" and it is critical for the United States that the ruling Taliban stop allowing guerrilla movements to set up in that country

Afghans fear famine over sanctions
KABUL, Jan 18 (AFP) - Residents in the war-torn Afghan capital say fears of drought-related famine have overshadowed concern about tough new UN sanctions which are due to hit the ruling Taliban militia Friday.

Osama not to be handed over even if Afghanistan destroyed: Envoy
ISLAMABAD (NNI): Osama will not be handed over to the United States if Afghanistan is destroyed and all Afghans are killed as his hand over will be tantamount to act against Islam, Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Maulvi Abdul Salam Zaeef said Wednesday.

Afghan refugee numbers threaten crisis in camps
By Tahir Ikram
SHAMSHATU, Pakistan (Reuters) - A rush of Afghan refugees fleeing war and drought has stretched the resources of the United Nation's World Food Program (WFP) in Pakistan so much it fears it will soon run out of food.

UN sanctions targeted against Taliban, not Afghan people: Vendrell
Islamabad, Jan 17 (IRNA) -- Special envoy of the UN secretary-general on Afghanistan, Fransesc Vendrell, on Wednesday said the Security Council's proposed sanctions were against Taliban and not the Afghan people.

US Centcom chief arrives today
The Nation 01/18/01
ISLAMABAD ? General Tomy R. Franks, C-in-C of the US Central Command (Centcom), arrives here today (Thursday) on a three-day official visit.
"During his stay in Pakistan,

Afghan sanctions UN observers to be killed: Noorani
The News Int. (Pak.)
HYDERABAD: Allama Shah Ahmed Noorani, the chief of Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP), has said the religious parties of the country, in their meeting in Akora Khattak, last week, had maintained that there

Afghan opposition denies reports of defection
KABUL, Jan 17 (AFP) - The Afghan opposition on Wednesday rejected as propaganda reports that a top commander with 195 men had surrendered to Taliban troops in northern Takhar province.

Taliban reiterate support to Kashmiris
ISLAMABAD (NNI): Taliban have reiterated their support to the right of self determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Musharraf to open envoys conference - Frontier Post
ISLAMABAD (NNI) - The Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf willinaugurate conference of Pakistani envoys on Thursday (today), says a press release.

Former Afghan diplomat calls on Mutawakil
ISLAMABAD (Agencies) - Naib Chief Afghanistan National Islamic Front andformer Afghan diplomat in Islamabad, Pir Syed Hamid Ali Gilani called on Afghan Foreign Minister Moulvi Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil.

Taliban held responsible for riots in Orakzai
PESHAWAR, Jan 17 (DAWN) -- A group of tribal elders from Orakzai Agency have demanded of the government to take action against all those responsible for igniting sectarian riots in the agency two weeks ago.

Special UN flight saves Afghan deminer
ISLAMABAD, Jan 17 (AFP) - An emergency flight by the United Nations Cordinator for Afghanistan saved the life of an injured Afghan deminer, the UN said Wednesday.

Whale fossil found in landlocked Afghanistan
KABUL, Jan 17 (AFP) - A fossil apparently from a whale has been found at a construction site in the capital of landlocked Afghanistan, an official report said Wednesday.

US threat to Taliban
By Dr. Jassim Taqui
Frontier Post Article
In a worldnet dialogue with Islamabad and Peshawar, the US AssistantSecretary of State for South Asia, Karl Inderfurth threatened to impose the UN Security Council sanctions against Afghanistan until

Taliban, Osama and the West
Brian Clougley
The News: Jang (Opinion)
Here is what the US National Foreign Intelligence Board has to say about Afghanistan: "Prospects for Afghanistan Ö. in 2015 appear bleak. Decades of foreign domination and civil war have