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Pashtuns Fear Being Left Out in the Cold
Thursday, June 13, 2002
(11.30 AM update)
By Patrick Quinn
Associated Press Writer

"Why have they not released all the prisoners? I'll tell you why, because they are Pashtuns," said Haji Nasrullah. "The one thing the loya jirga must do is to release these people. That is one of the first steps for unity and stability."

In the heartland of Afghanistan's Pashtun community, where the Taliban rose to power, many members of the country's largest ethnic group fear the grand council under way in Kabul will leave them political outsiders.

"Whomever the Americans want, they will appoint. No one listens to us here," complained Abdul Baqi, whose rug shop became a political forum on Wednesday as men gathered to discuss current events.

Pashtuns of Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city and the former Taliban stronghold, are closely following events in the loya jirga -- a one-off Afghan grand council. They hope that the meeting will bring an end to the wars that have blighted the country since 1979.

But many of the Pashtuns believe that the ethnic Tajik clique that wields power in the interim administration -- largely garnered as its Northern Alliance soldiers drove the Taliban from Kabul with US assistance -- will continue to discriminate against ethnic Pashtuns, who form the majority of Afghanistan's population.
(More: Guardian Unlimited News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan