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Warlord Pushes for Control of a Corner of Afghanistan
Monday, August 5, 2002
By Ian Fisher
The New York Times

The Afghan government warned Padsha Khan Zadran, an eastern warlord behind a series of street demonstrations, that it might use force to keep the peace. Mohamed Yunos, above, is a supporter of Mr. Zadran.
Image Credit: Tyler Hicks -- The New York Times.

Mr. Zadran's fight with Mr. Karzai stretches back to just after the peace agreement last December in Bonn, which brought the country an interim government and landed Mr. Zadran the job of governor of Paktia Province. But fighting broke out when another local warlord blocked him from taking office in the city of Gardez.

Khost, Afghanistan -- NYT
Padsha Khan Zadran, a warlord as volatile as the region he rules over, is again making trouble for the new central government in Afghanistan -- and this time the government is hinting that it might hit back with force.

For four days recently, supporters of Mr. Zadran demonstrated in the streets here, intermittently blocking trucks heading north toward Kabul, the capital. There is some question about how large the protests have been, but the message was clear: the protesters shouted for the nation's new president, Hamid Karzai, either to resign or to give some official post to Mr. Zadran.

Mr. Karzai's government, under pressure to control lawlessness in Afghanistan's outlands, struck back, in words for now. He issued a statement on Sunday, read on national television, calling Mr. Zadran and his heavily armed men a "group of bandits." But it warned further that the government might be "forced to take any actions deemed necessary to keep the peace and stability."

If Mr. Karzai indeed were to use military force, as his aides say is possible, it would be the first time -- and against a man who has defied him, and the notion of central authority in Afghanistan, repeatedly.

For his part, Mr. Zadran, 50, in an interview today under a mulberry tree and not far away from a box of mortar shells, smiled to the point of baring his silver molars and fairly dared Mr. Karzai to try.

"I don't know who would win if we fought," Mr. Zadran said, near the remains of his old house, bombed by Soviet planes two decades ago, on a dusty path outside Gardez in the southeast. "But he would be betraying Afghanistan."
(More: NYTimes.com News Source)
2002 © The New York Times Company.

Dan