January 17, 2000
Web posted at: 1:00 a.m. HKT (1700 GMT)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) -- Afghanistan's ruling Taliban Islamic movement announced on Sunday its formal diplomatic recognition of the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya, a Pakistan-based Afghan news service reported.
The Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted Taliban Foreign Minister Abdul Wakil Muttawakil as saying that Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar agreed to recognize Chechnya during a meeting with a Chechen delegation at his headquarters in the southern Afghan town of Kandahar.
"The delegation requested the Taliban leader to recognize the Chechen government, and the Taliban leader accepted this request on the basis of Islamic brotherhood and recognized the Chechen government," AIP quoted Muttawakil as saying by telephone from Kandahar.
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He said the Taliban had already intended to recognize Chechnya, but the urgency of such a move had increased because of the current Russian military assault on the republic.
"The Chechen government can now open its embassy in Afghanistan," Muttawakil said.
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