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Karzai vs Northern Alliance
Opinion
Musa Khan Jalalzai
Opinion
Musa Khan Jalalzai
Political developments in northern Afghanistan, and some commanders alliance against the US-backed Karzai regime is expected to be converted into a new ethnic war. In Baghlan province, the United National Front has warned Karzai that if the government tried to sideline Mujahideen leaders they will wage war against it.
On December 17, 2007, former Northern Alliance commander and Defence Minister Marshal Fahim and Ahmad Zia Massoud criticised President Karzai for sidelining former Mujahideen leaders. Ahmad Zia Massoud is the Vice-President of Afghanistan. He is the younger brother of Ahmed Shah Massoud. However, before their warning to the government, President Karzai had allegedly criticised the Northern Alliance for its secret dealings with some neighbouring countries. They have received money from abroad and they want to destabilise my government, Karzai said.
Many Afghans since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 had pinned their hopes on the new parliament to tackle the present division and political rivalries, but their hopes vanished after they saw senior Northern Alliance war criminals and rights abusers of the past in the present parliament. Afghans know that the new parliament is a combination of warlords and war criminals, who do not want the establishment of an intelligent Afghan state and rule of law. It is widely believed that the new parliament is one of the most controversial assemblies in the world history.
The Northern Alliance recently warned President Karzai that he was running risks if he did not change his policies regarding former Mujahideen leaders and commanders. We know that President Karzai must correct his policies otherwise relying on some American guards he will face consequences, said General Fahim. A power struggle between President Karzai and the Northern Alliance has turned into a serious confrontation, raising concerns within the country and abroad of a violent split in the fragile government. Thus, in the north, former commanders of the Northern Alliance are meeting each other to finalise their war strategy against the Karzai regime. Visits and consultations across the border with the Central Asian States and Russian military experts are underway. To avoid his arrest, speaker of the Afghan parliament and former interior minister Yunus Qanooni ran away to London.
According to Andrew Cochran, the most egregious example of Qanoonis true intentions came earlier this year, when he championed a bill to provide amnesty for anyone who has committed war crimes in the last 25 years. Yunus Qanooni, Cochran says, has been termed as a human rights abuser and war criminal by Human Rights Watch. Qanoonis leading role in the United National Front, a motley cabal of warlords, ex-Communists and politicos dissatisfied President Karzai. During his election campaign, President Karzai revealed the fact that Yunus Qanooni and some of his American friends were running private jails where innocent people, especially Pashtuns, were being tortured. Qanooni was elected in the 2005 Afghan parliamentary elections. Since the presidential election he has generally been seen as the spokesman of the Northern Alliance, but was largely sidelined after the 2004 presidential election. Qanuni has formed an alliance of several parties called the Jabahai Tafahim Millie or National Understanding Front.
Fahim, Qanooni and other Panjsheri warlords believe their role in defeating the Taliban has earned them the right to control Afghanistans defence establishment. Panjsheris warlords dominate the defence, interior and foreign ministries, as well as the intelligence and police. Attah Mohammad, the northern militia commander and war criminal, is closely allied with Fahim. General Dostum is preparing his own army in the north for his future fight against the Northern Alliance. Dostum was, however, betrayed by one of his subordinates and his mini-state in the north was overrun by the Taliban in 1998. By the spring of 2001, Dostum had reunited his followers in the inaccessible Hindu Kush Mountains and, with Ahmad Shah Massouds support, returned from exile to lead them against the Taliban.
Experts in London believe there are political and ethnic rivalries within the Afghan government. Some critics, including non-Panjsheri officials in several ministries in the past were convinced that Fahim and his cohort had planned to systematically reduce the power of Pashtuns, and ultimately split the country on an ethnic basis. Experts say the problem of ethnic division is an old threat to the unity of Afghanistan and the ambitions of Northern Alliance warlords are a far greater threat to the stability and peace of the country. Already facing a rising Taliban insurgency in the south, Karzai can ill-afford to raise the ire of warlords who still control formidable militias. Human rights groups, along with many ordinary Afghans, want the setting up of a special court to charge war criminals.
Afghanistan remains one of the most mine and unexploded ordnance-infested countries in the world today, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It has even issued a warning to Afghan children not to play with the unexploded yellow canisters of cluster bombs. Each month, more than 100 Afghans are killed or wounded by landmines and unexploded ordnance.
The opium and heroin produced from the poppy crops in Afghanistan generate three billion dollars a year. Warlords use much of these funds to buy politicians, tribal leaders and gunmen. About half of this figure goes to farmers growing poppies. Afghanistan now has more than 265,000 smugglers, dealers and cultivators. In the north, nearly eight percent women are taking opium and other drugs while this ratio is higher among males. The security situation in the country is assessed by most analysts as having deteriorated at a constant rate through 2007, the report compiled by the Kabul office of the UN Department of Safety and Security said.
Foreign fighters are not only bolstering the ranks of the insurgency. They are more violent and uncontrollable. In addition to growing insecurity in the country, which has claimed the lives of some 2,000 people this year, harsh drought conditions have resulted in some 2.5 million people facing an imminent food crisis. The Taliban have regrouped rather well along the Afghan countryside, particularly in provinces in the Pak-Afghan border. Unsurprisingly, violence is significant near the Pakistan border. The subversion that targets Afghan provinces close to Pakistan, like Paktika, is a reality despite the fact that Islamabad has deployed approximately 80,000 troops on their side of the border.
The writer is the author of 156 books on terrorism, extremism, human trafficking, Afghanistan, drug trafficking and foreign policy studies and is based in London, UK
