Pakistan severed telephone links it donated to the afghan capital Kabul after its former Taliban allies fled from the city this week, the telecommunications department said. Pakistan had given 55 telephone connections to Taliban-run ministries and offices in Kabul soon after the militia took over the city in 1996, they said.
The connections were connected to the international dialing system by a fiber optic link, said an official of the Pakistan Telecommunications Company limited on the condition of anonymity.
US bombing destroyed 35 of these lines, and the remaining 20 were cut today, he said. The opposition Northern Alliance walked into the city after the Taliban fled without giving any resistance. Pakistan has uneasy relations with the alliance because of this country's longtime support of the Taliban before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Pakistan had also given telephone connections to Taliban officials in southern city of Kandahar - their main stronghold. It was not immediately known whether these connections are working.
Bureau Report