| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| Afghan Warlords Agree on Disarmament in North |
| 2002-10-28 |
| The three main factions in Afghanistan's volatile north have reached an agreement to disarm their fighters. The deal came after several hours of talks between the Shi'ite Hezb-i-Wahdat faction, the Jamiat-e-Islami group of Ustad Atta Mohammad and representatives of Uzbek warlord, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, Wahdat spokesman Sardar Sayedi told reporters. Wonder if they'll knock it off this time? He said U.N. officials witnessed the agreement — the second of its kind this year. "A decision was made to stop the fighting here," Sayedi said. "Agreements were made that police should be based in the cities and all armed men must either withdraw or join the army." That sounds fair... The agreement was reached in the key northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif a day after the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmai Khalilzad met Dostum and Atta in Mazar to express concern about recent fighting between their factions, which have clashed repeatedly since U.S. air power helped topple the Taliban regime last year. "You guys are acting like a bunch of Pashtuns and it's embarrassing..." The earlier U.N.-brokered disarmament deal never got off the ground and news of the latest agreement came amid reports of fresh fighting. "... so we're turning off the money until you get your guys under control. If you can't do that, too bad." Sayedi said there had been clashes Monday between Dostum and Atta's forces in the Sholgara area about 25 miles southwest of Mazar-i-Sharif. Residents of the area said seven people had been killed. Sunday, Atta's deputy Abdul Saboor told Reuters six people were killed in fighting the previous day in the Char Kant area a similar distance southeast of Mazar. Maybe somebody should remind them that you stop being a tough guy when you're dead. And when you're no longer a tough guy, you don't get a share of the booty... Sayedi said details of how the agreement would be implemented still had to be worked out. Khalilzad's visit to Mazar came days after U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai warned he would strip regional warlords of their power unless they fell in line with his government. Khalilzad said he had made clear to Dostum and Atta they had to decide whether they want to support Karzai's government. Both Dostum and Atta are members of Karzai's weak coalition government but have declined to move to Kabul. Life's safer for Afghan warlords when they don't get too far from their infantry... Mazar is controlled largely by Atta, who fought against Dostum for its control in the 1990s. The three groups expended a lot of blood to take Mazar, and now they can't stop fighting to see who's in charge. Dozens of fighters and non-combatants have been killed in the clashes between their forces since then and several hundred ethnic Pashtuns, a minority group in the area but the majority in Afghanistan, have been forced to flee. I'm sure they're all non-combatants, but I still can't work up much sympathy. Pashtun treachery threw the city to the Talibs, way back when. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 I think the main impetus here was the MMA triumphs in Porkistan. The real Northern Alliance will have to unite, because the MMA-Talibanis are about to be armed and dangerous. Karzai's authority doesn't exist outside of his shoes. Afghanistan has always been a dog's breakfast country, and it should break up. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-10-28 19:47:55 |