LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Afghanistan: Karachi Pakistan
built 656 days ago
High mountains cover much of Afghanistan. About half the land area is more than 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in elevation. Small glaciers and year-round snowfields are common. The highest peak, Nowshāk (Noshaq), rises 7,485 m (24,557 ft) on the northeastern border and is a lower spur of the Tirich Mīr peak in Pakistan. It is part of the Hindu Kush mountain system, which is located primarily in northeastern Afghanistan just south of another major system, the Pamirs. From the Hindu Kush, other lower ranges radiate outward, with the main spurs extending in a southwesterly direction almost to the western border with Iran.
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The problem is that the ONLY logical pipeline route runs for nearly a thousand miles along the Afghanistan border with Iran and Pakistan, (largely so close as to be visible from the border. This route would seem to provide the US with the best incentive to date to cooperate with Iran by, in essence, competing with a proposed Chinese backed oil pipeline project serving the same oil fields in northern Iran and points south, preventing China from obtaining a defacto monopoly holder on oil supplies for SE Asia. The Chinese began negotiating that project in 1997, causing a great deal of consternation for the Clinton administration and major US oil companies who stood to gain little in the project.
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The Asia Times has an insightful look at the challenges that Paddy Ashdown will face as he begins his new role as the UN envoy to Afghanistan. Pakistani bureau chief Syed Saleem Shahzad opines that Ashdown will have to talk with “the real players” – Mullah Omar and al-Qaida -- notwithstanding the recent expulsion of European diplomats for allegedly talking to the Taliban.
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The Sept. 18 elections for Parliament and provincial councils were an important step in Afghanistan's march toward democracy. But now that progress is threatened by an increasingly violent insurgency that uses Pakistan as a staging area for attacks. Unless the United States and Pakistan take steps to eliminate this sanctuary, the security situation in Afghanistan will continue to deteriorate and undermine the country's fragile democracy, writes Seth G. Jones.
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As part of these efforts, Brodsky has traveled to underground girls’ schools, orphanages and refugee camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She has risked her life ? both from the dangers facing a Western woman in areas controlled by fundamentalist groups, and from the ongoing fighting and unexploded landmines and ordnance that litter the countryside.
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Chick-peas provide bulk in well-seasoned kofta, the name for various types of meatballs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, & India. Unlike customs in other countries, they are boiled in soup or water & served separately from soup. Chick-peas are one of forbidden foods for Passover in Afghanistan, so Nofta Nakhod must wait for another time.
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