North Afghan highway opening put off , radio says .
ISLAMABAD 1996-08-25
The planned reopening of Afghanistan 's main northern Salang highway as a result of peace talks with an opposition alliance has been put off until Wednesday , official Kabul Radio said on Sunday .
The embattled Afghan government said last week that the Kabul-Salang highway would be opened on Monday or Tuesday following talks with the Supreme Coordination Council alliance led by Jumbish-i-Milli movement of powerful opposition warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum .
The radio said on Sunday the postponement of the opening had been made due to " precautions " .
It did not elaborate .
The Salang highway , Afghanistan 's main route to Central Asia , has been controlled by Dostum since he began fighting President Burhanuddin Rabbani 's government in Kabul in January 1994 in alliance with Hezb-i-Islami party leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar , then prime minister but rival to the president .
Hekmatyar rejoined the government as prime minister last June under a peace pact with Rabbani and has since been trying to persuade other opposition factions to follow suit .
Earlier this month , Jumbish denied a Kabul government statement that the two sides had agreed to a ceasefire in the north .