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Russia may write off Afghan debt in Feb.
MOSCOW - Russia may write off about $10 billion of Afghanistan’s Soviet-era debt in February, local news agencies quoted Russian Foreign Ministry sources as saying on Monday.
How about the debt to all the crippled Afghan children from your war?
A decision to write off the debt piled up during Moscow’s 9-year-long invasion in the Asian state, which ended in a withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989, was reached at an international conference on Afghanistan in January.

But debates on the precise size of the debt and conditions of the deal have slowed the talks. ‘The sides have effectively finalised the document and expressed readiness to sign it in February,’ Itar-Tass quoted its source as saying.

RIA quoted a similar source as saying access for Russian businesses to contracts in Afghanistan was a condition for writing off the debt.
Posted by: Steve White 2006-12-26
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=176100