Word: noorani
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev had set March 15 as the target date for concluding the negotiations, promising that if it was met, Moscow would begin withdrawing its 115,000-member army of occupation from Afghanistan by May 15. Yet last week key negotiators, including Pakistani Minister of State Zain Noorani, whose government represents the mujahedin rebels, admitted that the putative deadline would pass without an agreement. Said Noorani: "It's out of the question...
...talks. For another, the Soviet representative at the negotiations, Ambassador-at-Large Nikolai Kozyrev, revealed that his government and the U.S. are conducting intensive and highly secret discussions on Afghanistan in Moscow and Washington. The ever persistent Cordovez has privately predicted that the bargaining could drag on. Summed up Noorani: "The important date is not the 15th of March; it's the 15th...
...other major unresolved issue is the future shape of Afghanistan's government. Pakistan, which serves as the exile home of more than 2.5 million Afghan refugees, believes the treaty must at least provide a "mechanism" for a transitional government. Said Noorani: "The refugees in Pakistan are not going to return home as long as the regime in power is the same one that is responsible for the deaths of 1.2 million Afghans." Afghanistan's chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Abdul Wakil, insists the matter is a purely Afghan affair and last week accused Pakistan of seeking "to push the talks into...
Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, as Moscow fully realizes, is in a tight spot. Says Zain Noorani, Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs: "We don't just want an agreement, we want an agreement that can be implemented." Specifically, Pakistan needs the cooperation of the seven-party mujahedin alliance to proceed with the peace agreement. Yet the guerrilla leadership will not accept an agreement with Najib. If Pakistan deals with him anyway, the results will probably be chaotic. The rebels would lose their arms pipeline -- including the Stingers -- and face a potent Soviet force for at least...
Pakistan's rejection virtually guarantees that the nuclear issue will continue to fester, thereby threatening the entire range of U.S. interests in the region. One effect of Washington's pressure so far has been to unite a normally vociferous opposition behind Zia's authoritarian government. Declared Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani, president of the right-wing Jamiatul-Ulema-e- Pakistan Party: "Pakistan must not accept the U.S. pressure. It should continue its nuclear program even if that means cutting off all American...