By the beginning of June 1997, Afghanistan is effectively partitioned between areas controlled by Pashtun and non-Pashtun forces.

The Taliban control approximately two-thirds of Afghanistan, including all the predominantly Pashtun areas of the country as well as Herat and Kabul.

Non-Pashtun organizations control the areas bordering on the Central Asian republics, whose populations are ethnically non-Pashtun, such as Uzbeks and Tajiks.

Mother Theresa dies in 1997 the same week that Britains’s Princess Diana is killed in an auto crash.

India's CBN begins the destruction of illicit opium cultivation operations in the Yingkiong and Lohit districts of East Arunachal Pradesh.
(Source: Central Bureau of Narcotics, Gwalior)

Somalis and UN officials say ships from places such as China and Taiwan have been dumping toxic waste in the unprotected waters off the coast.

Ships from around the world also have been illegally fishing the seafood-rich waters.

"This is one of the five best fishing areas in the world according to World Bank studies, but it's being looted by pirates who are taking advantage of our national tragedy because we can't protect our coastline," says Gen. Mohammed Abshir, a top official in the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), the leading political faction in Bosaso, which has become a major point of entry for goods into Somalia.

UN officials verify ships from China, the Philippines, Spain, and Russia have been heavily fishing the area.

Somali leaders in the northeast region say that 300 to 500 vessels appear along their 800-mile section of coast during a season, and that the fleets also include trawlers from other European countries, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Yemen, and Pakistan.

(Source: The Christian Science Monitor International.

10-20-1997, Post-US, Somalia Finds Many Cashi In on Chaos, by Ilene R. Prusher.

Britain’s Princess Diana, estranged wife of Crown Prince Charles, dies in a 1997 auto wreck in Paris with her lover and his driver.

In 1997, former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide forms a new political party, the Lavalas Family.

The stated objective of the Taliban is the erection of the world's most pure Islamic state, banning frivolities like television, music and cinema.

In reinforcing their commitment to the eradication of crime in Afghanistan, they introduce Islamic law, including public executions and amputations.

They also issue a series of regulations forbidding girls from going to school and women from working.

These rulings quickly bring the Taliban into conflict with the international community.

Together with restrictions on women's access to health care, these issues have also caused some resentment among ordinary Afghans.

On the other hand, the Afghans, weary of the prevailing lawlessness in many parts of their country, are largely supportive of the Taliban's successful efforts in stamping out corruption.

On January 5, 1997, Junbish planes drop cluster munitions on residential areas of Kabul.

Several civilians are killed and others wounded in the air raid, which also involves the use of conventional bombs.
(Source: Human Rights Watch World Report 2001: Asia Overview: Fueling Afghanistan's War Press Backgrounder)

King Hussein has become increasingly frustrated with what he considers the obstructionist policies of the Israeli government, but he still plays a central role in brokering the deal between Israel and the PLO regarding Israeli withdrawal from Hebron in the West Bank in early 1997.

Hamas terror attacks have killed scores of Israeli civilians between 1993 and 1997.

Rabin had retaliated with border closures that prevent tens of thousands of Palestinian workers living in the occupied territories from commuting to jobs in Israel; Peres had continued the policy, as has Netanyahu.