Turkmenistan: Afghanistan's Northern Based Opposition & Taleban Militia Meet For Talks On Division Of Government Powers

Record ID: 4055

  • Title: Turkmenistan: Afghanistan's Northern Based Opposition & Taleban Militia Meet For Talks On Division Of Government Powers
  • Date: 15th March 1999
  • Summary: Afghanistan's Northern-based opposition has said that territory should not be the only criterion used when deciding how the country's warring factions divide up power. Representatives from the purist Taleban militia and the northern-based opposition coalition have met with Turkmen leader Saparmurat Niyazov in Ashgabat before flying back to their respective camps. Seven Afghan delegates, representing the ruling Islamic Teleban militia and northern-based opposition alliance, on March 15 met in Ashgabat with Turkmen leader Saparmurat Niyazov. Niyazov met the delegates separately at his grandiose palace in the centre of Ashgabat. The meeting came after four days of intense UN-mediated talks and discussions on the situation in war-torn Afghanistan. The warring factions have reached a peace accord, agreeing to create a joint executive, judiciary and legislature, swap prisoners and work towards a permanent cease-fire. The two sides plan to meet again in Afghanistan to thrash out the details of the deal, the key to which will be finding a way to divide power that suits all parties. Mohammad Qanouni, head of the opposition delegation, speaking to reporters after meeting President Niyazov, said he hoped the next round of talks would touch upon ways of implementing agreements reached in Turkmenistan. The purist Islamic Taleban movement, which draws its following from majority ethnic Pashtuns, controls about 90 percent of war-torn Afghanistan. The opposition, drawing its strength from the non-Pashtun minority groups, holds the rest of the territory in the Northeast of the country.
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  • Location: TURKMENISTAN CIS ASHGABAT
  • Reuters ID: LDL0012ASBT5N
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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  • Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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