From: EurasiaDigest (digest@eurasianet.org)
Date: Wed Feb 01 2006 - 11:46:33 EST
MOSCOW VIEWS NEO-TALIBAN, AL-QAEDA AS 'COLLABORATORS'
Speaking at a news conference while attending the London conference on 31 January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country continues to view the neo-Taliban as collaborators with Al-Qaeda, Interfax-AVN reported. Any change in the international community's view of the neo-Taliban as an element of international terrorism "would be a significant step backward" in the antiterrorism coalition's efforts, Lavrov said. Lavrov expressed concern over the election of several members of the former Taliban regime to the Afghan National Assembly, ITAR-TASS reported on 31 January. Moscow has maintained that there are no moderate Taliban members, and has opposed Kabul's policy of seeking reconciliation with most members of that former regime. AT
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