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Afghan
Interior Minister Plays Down Provincial Unrest
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| Akund
Zada, right, dispatched by Karzai, with Bacha Khan, leader of
Zadran tribe, in a bid to avert more fighting. |
KABUL,
Feb. 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Afghan interim Interior
Minister Yunus Qanooni insisted Monday that Afghanistan's interim
government controls the countryside despite tribal and ethnic
fighting which has flared in the past two weeks.
Bloody clashes between local warlords in the north and east of
Afghanistan are isolated incidents and unlikely to escalate, Qanooni
told a news conference in the capital.
Security had improved dramatically since the defeat of the Taliban
and Al-Qaeda network it sheltered and "I think the security
situation is better than in the neighboring countries," he
said, reported AFP.
Qanooni attributed this to improved policing and to the deployment
of thousands of troops of the International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF) in Kabul in the past month.
"We have problems only in two of the 32 provinces," he
said, adding that the situation in eastern Paktia province, where
some 50 people died in fighting last week, was "under control.
I'm very sure what happened in Gardez will not escalate."
Qanooni said there had been "hands from outside the
country" involved in the Gardez clashes, but he did not
elaborate. The interior minister normally accuses neighboring
Pakistan of allegedly meddling in Afghan affairs.
Forces loyal to tribal chief Padsha Khan, interim Afghan leader
Hamid Karzai's choice for provincial governor, were routed by rival
warlord Saif Ullah in two days of fighting in Gardez last week.
Meanwhile, a team of negotiators from Afghanistan's interim
government in Gardez are trying to settle a dispute over who should
be governor of Paktia province, reported BBC’s online news
service.
The talks continued Monday and Qanooni said the matter would be
resolved by Tuesday, despite a report in the Pakistan-based Afghan
Islamic Press (AIP) that the delegation had failed to make peace
between the two warlords.
Qanooni cautioned, though, that despite the improvement in security,
most Afghans were still armed, and remnants of the Taliban and
Al-Qaeda were still to be found in Afghanistan. "There's still
unfortunately sabotage, and internal interference by foreigners is
continuing," he said.
In ethnic fighting in the north, four people were killed and 10
wounded in weekend clashes between rival Uzbek and Tajik commanders
in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, capital of Balkh province.
It has emerged that United Nations intermediaries helped prevent a
major outbreak of fighting in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan
last week.
Two rival factions, ethnic Uzbek Junbish-e- Mellie, controlled by
General Dostum, and Jamiat-e-Islami, ethnic Tajiks controlled by
Ustad Atta Mohammad, were wrangling for control of the city. Each
had mobilized about 1,000 men and were marching on Mazar-e-Sharif.
More than 40 people were killed in what was the most serious
fighting in the area since the Northern Alliance seized control of
the city from the Taliban in November 2001, news agencies reported.
In response, the U.N. sent negotiators to mediate between the two
groups, as well as with a third operating in the area - the ethnic
Hazara faction Hezb-i-Wahdat.
Following the talks, all three agreed to hand control of the city to
a new security council, which will be set up in a week's time.
Under the agreement, two hundred fighters are to be taken from each
of the three groups to form a 600-strong multi-factional police
force for the city.
However, latest reports suggest the talks have run into difficulties
and will continue on Tuesday.
Talks held on implementing the deal were not concluded and will
carry on Tuesday, BBC reported.
In another separate but related development, ISAF commander,
Major-General John McColl, said there were now deployed 3,200 troops
from 15 nations in Kabul.
The full deployment, agreed by the interim Afghan administration and
the international community in a Military Technical Agreement (MTA)
signed January 4, is 4,500 peacekeeping troops.
"More troops are arriving every day and I expect to achieve
full operating capability by mid-February," McColl said.
The improving security situation, he added, had underpinned an
improving commercial confidence.
Compared to six weeks ago, "Kabul is teeming, the markets are
full of goods, the streets are full of people and there seem to be
more and more cars on the streets every day,” McColl said.
"There has been a great deal of progress in a short space of
time.”
Karzai has called for more ISAF troops to be deployed so other areas
of the country can be secured, but his appeal has made little impact
internationally, with many countries saying they are already too
stretched to provide more troops.
Qanooni said the problem could be resolved by training more police.
"I believe we need 70,000 police for the entire country. With
the help of the international community, I believe we can become
self-sufficient [as far as security issues are concerned] within a
year."
Regarding prospects for achieving lasting stability in Afghanistan,
he said: "The people are exhausted by war, and are thirsty for
peace." 
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