Afghan army tries to pacify the north

AP , CHARBOLAK, AFGHANISTAN
Monday, May 10, 2004,Page 4

Hunkered down behind walls topped with razor wire built by the US military, Afghan army Captain Abdul Jabar boasts that his less than 200 lightly armed soldiers can beat any challenge if confronted by the warlords who hold sway across northern Afghanistan.

The odds aren't in his favor: The warlords have thousands of militia itching to fight, along with tanks and artillery they have refused to hand over despite promises to President Hamid Karzai.

Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum and his Tajik rival General Atta Mohammed -- the two main militia leaders in the north who have supported the US-led anti-terror coalition -- agreed to turn in all their heavy weapons after the most serious post-Taliban factional fighting between their forces erupted in October, killing at least 10 people.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/05/10/2003154874

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09382105.htm

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghanistan's most powerful regional strongman warned on Sunday that plans to disarm tens of thousands of factional fighters over the coming months could hurt national stability, not enhance it.

On the eve of a visit to his province by President Hamid Karzai, who has made rapid disarmament a central policy, Ismail Khan said in a rare interview that the fledgling Afghan army was too weak to fill the power vacuum that would be created.

Khan, the self-styled "emir of Herat", rules the strategic western province as a personal fiefdom, and, his critics say, trades freedom of expression and women's rights for the kind of stability most Afghan provinces could only dream of.

"The disarming of the mujahideen (holy warriors), who are helping to secure Afghanistan, will bring instability," the silver-bearded 65-year-old told Reuters at an official residence overlooking the ancient city of Herat, near the Iranian border.

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