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Factional Fighting In Afghanistan, Karzai Asks UN For Bigger Force
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| Peace seems a far reaching dream in Afghanistan! |
GARDEZ, Afghanistan, Jan. 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - At least 40 and possibly hundreds of fighters loyal to an incoming provincial governor have been killed in fighting with a rival warlord over control of Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan. Interim government leader, Hamid Karzai, has asked the UN to extend and expand the mandate of the international security force currently patrolling the capital, Kabul, news agencies reported.
Wazeer Khan, brother of Padsha Khan, who was recently appointed as the governor of Paktia province, told AFP "at least 40 people" had been killed in the fighting against rival warlord Saif Ullah.
However, he later claimed about 300 of the Padshea Khan fighters had been taken prisoners by Saif Ullah's forces and were being killed. "After they were captured, they (Saif Ullah's forces) started killing them," Wazer Khan said.
He said he thought "many, many more than 40" had been killed but he was not sure how many.
Fighting broke out between the rival warlords about midday Wednesday when Padsha Khan's forces arrived in Gardez to raise the flag of the Afghan interim government at the Governor's mansion.
Padsha Khan said his forces had taken control of most areas but had failed to win control of the main police station and fort in the town, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Kabul.
Fierce fighting broke out again at about 9.00 am (0430 GMT) as Khan's forces fired rockets from the surrounding hills. Khan was also sending in reinforcements to the battle.
The head of the local garrison, Ghulam Mehidi, who is Khan's ally, said he would ask Khan to stop firing the rockets into the town to prevent civilian deaths.
U.S. warplanes were circling high overhead and according to Mehidi, U.S. special forces were in the outskirts of the town. "They are not interfering in this struggle. It is between two Afghan factions," he told AFP.
"But if we find there are Al-Qaeda people involved, we will tell them (the US forces) and they will come in and join in the battle."
However, locals fleeing the rundown town of about 50,000 people said the clash was between "supporters of Rabbani and supporters of the king." Saif Ullah's group is loyal to pre-Taliban president Burhanuddin Rabbani and Khan to ex-king Mohammed Zahir Shah. Both groups have been trying to fill the vacuum that the flight of the Taliban late last year created in Paktia and neighboring Khost province. The monarchists have the backing of Karzai, also a Pashtun royalist.
The other group comprises supporters of Rabbani, who led Afghanistan during four disastrous years of factional infighting from 1992 to 1996 before being ousted by the Taliban.
When a new power-sharing government was shaped in Bonn last month, Rabbani was sidelined by younger moderates in his Northern Alliance, and has since had scarcely a profile in national politics.
The fighting appeared to be the most serious outbreak of violence between rival tribal leaders in Afghanistan since the Taliban collapsed and the UN-backed interim government was put in place last month.
Similar clashes were reported in the far northern province of Kunduz earlier this month but Karzai dismissed the battles as minor "skirmishes" which should be expected in Afghanistan after two decades of war.
However, in New York on Wednesday, Karzai made his strongest call yet for a more robust foreign security force to ensure peace during the country's multi-billion-dollar reconstruction.
Karzai had previously said that many Afghans felt the force should be expanded to be able to operate nationwide. However, he stopped short of directly calling for an enlargement, BBC online news service reported.
Karzai told the UN that the presence of troops in other major cities would signal the ongoing commitment of the international community to Afghanistan's peace and security.
He said Afghanistan looked forward to building a government that "responds to the wishes of our people and responds to the wishes of the international community, to whom we owe a great deal."
Expressing thanks to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, and the Security Council, Karzai said the interim government would abide by its commitment to select a new head of state and government.
However, he took pains to address international concerns that the corruption would not affect the creation of a new government for the country. "We will build an efficient and transparent government accountable to its citizens and the international community... We will not permit the evil of corruption."
Included among the new government's plans would be "vigorous action" to maintain a complete ban on the production of opium and the growing of poppies.
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