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| Afghanistan |
| Key road in the east reopens |
| 2003-03-04 |
| A key road in the volatile eastern region of Afghanistan that was blocked for five days by gunmen loyal to a warlord has reopened following successful negotiations. "The road is open since Monday morning and people can move freely," Hakim Taniwal, the governor of eastern Khowst Province told IRIN. âWe are happy that the issue was resolved through negotiations rather than force.â Why? You bored? It'll be back again... Zakamdad Sarmalim, a senior official in Khowst, told IRIN that the road had been closed last week by the Dari Khel subclan of the Zadran, who were allied to the renegade warlord, Badshah Khan Zadran. âThey used to snatch vehicles and harass our people. But when we arrested them, they closed the road,â he said. Maybe you should have arrested those guys, too... An ethnic Pashtun commander, Zadran, was appointed governor of Paktia Province after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. However, the tribes in the region refused to recognise his authority. He then moved to neighbouring Khowst Province and set up an administration parallel to that of Taniwal, the provinceâs anthropologist-turned-politician administrator appointed by President Hamid Karzai. In August, Badshah was forced to leave Khowst and retreated to his mountainous native village in Paktia Province. Since then, he and his men have been linked to the harassment and robbery of travellers and traders on the road between Khowst and Gardez, where his armed supporters had established many checkpoints. I keep forgetting the difference between a warlord and a bandit. I'm sure it'll come to me... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 warlords have a couple guys doing PR for them |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-03-04 18:16:07 |