From: EurasiaDigest (digest@eurasianet.org)
Date: Wed Feb 22 2006 - 09:58:41 EST
AFGHANISTAN WANTS PAKISTAN TO REVIEW MISSILE NAMES
Afghan Information, Culture, and Tourism Minister Sayyed Makhdum Rahin said in Kabul on 21 February that his government has sent a request to Pakistan asking it not to name its missiles after historic Afghan rulers, Pajhwak Afghan News reported. Rahin described the request as a "suggestion based on principles." Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswomen Tasneen Aslam, however, told Pajhwak that her country has not received Rahin's request, adding that Islamabad will give its "reaction as and when" it receives the request. Pakistan has named some of its ballistic missiles after Afghan rulers such as "Abdali" or historical figures whose empires were based in what is currently Afghanistan such as "Ghaznawi" and "Ghori." Kings from these dynasties invaded India. The established Afghan historiography traces the origins of the country to historic periods before 1747, when the basis of modern Afghanistan was established by Ahmad Shah Abdali. AT
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