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Afghan Warlords Rattling Sabres
Wednesday, January 23, 2002
By Mark MacKinnon

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Source
A council of leaders in Kandahar province has decided to send a military force to clear the roads between the city of Kandahar and Herat to the west, heightening the chance that feuding between warlords will spark a fresh round of ethnic violence.

An emergency shura, or meeting of elders, held late Monday night decided the force was needed to protect Pashtun travellers, whom they believe are being targeted by bandits loyal to Herat warlord Ismail Khan. A spokesman for Kandahar governor Gul Agha Shirzai charged that Mr. Khan's men are being supplied with weapons and money by Iran.

However, the shura did not decide to attack Herat itself, instead referring the matter to the interim government in Kabul and asking interim leader Hamid Karzai to intervene and protect Pashtuns in and around Herat.

On Monday, Mr. Shirzai's intelligence chief, Haji Gullalai, boasted of having a force of 20,000 men ready to strike at Herat. But yesterday another spokesman for the governor, Abdul Ali, backed away from the boast, saying it "makes no sense" to strike at Herat before the road to the city is cleared.

Yesterday, Mr. Khan warned Kandahar's rulers against attacking his stronghold. "No one can take any such step or do anything like this," he told Reuters. "If anyone does so he will confront a major disaster ... Such an act will endanger the peace process that the interim government wants to maintain."

A clash between the Pashtuns and the Tajik fighters loyal to Mr. Khan could raise the risk of restarting the civil war that consumed the country for much of the 1990s, and could destabilize the temporary government in Kabul.
(The Globe & Mail News Source)
2002 © Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc.

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