ISLAMABAD,
September 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – A report of U.S.
forces’ arrest Sunday, September 8, of powerful local warlord Padsha
Khan in the eastern Afghan
city of Gardez prompted a fierce reaction from the Afghan people, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported.
News
of the arrest sparked off firing and fierce fighting in which at least
three people died in the city of Khost, 60 kilometers (37 miles) to the
southeast, Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted AIP as saying.
The
Pakistan-based agency, quoting state-run Radio Khost, said firing was
reported in the main market at Khost. It said the situation was tense
and shops were closed.
A
bomb in a market in Khost injured 12 people and destroyed several shops
earlier Sunday, the agency reported.
Meanwhile,
Ghamai Khan Mohammadyar, an aide to Padsha Khan, denied the radio report
that the warlord had been arrested by U.S.
forces, said AFP.
"No,
it is not true, it is all propaganda. He is fine, he is in a shura
(council) with elders," Mohammadyar told AFP by phone.
The
Pakistan-based AIP quoted Khan himself as denying the arrest.
"The
report by Radio Khost that U.S.
forces had arrested me is wrong," Khan reportedly told the
agency in a satellite telephone call.
"I
am free in my native village."
Khan,
quoted by AIP, said that earlier Sunday he met a U.S.
delegation which tried to settle difference between himself and
President Hamid Karzai.
"The
U.S. delegation
urged me to open talks with Hamid Karzai, but I have told him that I
would not hold talks until Karzai until he fulfils the promises he made
to me," the warlord was quoted as saying.
Khan,
who sees himself as the rightful leader of the region, reportedly said
he would continue his struggle against the governors of Paktia and Khost
provinces.
The
report of the arrest sparked off clashes in Khost between supporters of
Khan and forces loyal to Khost governor Mohammad Hakim Taniwal, AIP
said.
It
quoted residents as saying that rockets as well as light weapons were
being used and the city was completely shut down.
Taniwal's
spokesman Mohammad Khan Gurbuz, quoted by AIP, said heavy weapons were
being used during the fighting.
The
agency said forces loyal to the governor had seized about half of the
municipal corporation building although Khan's supporters were resisting
in some parts of the premises.
The
spokesman urged members of Khan's Zadran tribe to surrender.
"Taniwal is the legally appointed governor," he said.
Karzai
initially appointed Khan as governor of Paktia province, which borders
Khost province. But he failed to take office after members of a local
council of elders refused to accept him.
Clashes
in April between Khan's forces and supporters of the new Paktia
governor, Taj Mohammad Wardak, left more than 100 people killed and
wounded.
The
latest tension in Khost comes on the heels of a second assassination
attempt on the life of Karzai who survived uninjured shots fired near
him Thursday, September 5, in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, as a
massive car bomb that ripped through central Afghanistan left 30 people
dead.
Security
officials said this is not the first attempt at Karzai’s life. They
said they foiled a massive car bomb plot in late July to assassinate
Karzai or other senior government ministers, AFP reported.
Karzai
had insisted in late July that "the security situation in
Afghanistan is quite alright".
The
upheaval in the southeastern city of Khost follows a call by former
Afghan prime minister and Hizb-I-Islami (Islamic Party) leader Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, on the Afghan
people, especially, the Pashtun tribes in southeastern Afghanistan to
revolt against U.S. troops in the country and stressed that: “Our only
aim is for foreign troops to quit Afghanistan and for the Afghan people
to decide their own future.”
In
a tape recorded message, made available to the media Tuesday evening,
September 3, Hekmatyar said: “We announce our full solidarity with the
people of the southeastern provinces; we condemn U.S. atrocities against
our people; and we call on all Afghans to stand up against Americans
like they did with the Russians,” stressing that Afghanistan’s
problems could only be solved by popular resistance to the American
presence.
Urging
Pashtuns to carry on with Jihad, Hekmatyar said: “You set an
example with your Jihad against the Russians; do the same with
the Americans,” reminding them that the attacks on U.S. troops in
Khost and the massive anti-U.S. demonstrations are evidence the people
of Afghanistan are bent on starting Jihad.
“The
Americans succeeded in toppling the Taliban regime, but they will never
be able to occupy Afghanistan forever,” said Hekmatyar. “You can see
for your eyes how resistance to the U.S. presence is spreading out.”
Hekmatyar’s
message prompted a mixed reaction from the Afghans.
Most
Afghan immigrants unanimously agreed to the necessity of responding
positively to Hekmatyar’s call. They met in several camps and shouted
anti-U.S. and anti-foreign slogans like “praise be to Islam.....praise
be to Jihad” and “Death to U.S. .....death to U.S. agents and
supporters”.
Hundreds of Afghan youths
called for immediate and complete confrontation of foreign forces and
expressed their desire and readiness to fight against the Americans with
their blood and money.
