LONDON,
July 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Britain and the U.S. are
secretly distributing huge sums of money to persuade Afghan warlords
not to rebel against their country's new government, reported the
British newspaper the Observer Sunday, July 21.
The
Observer said that 'bin bags' full of U.S. dollars have been
flown into Afghanistan, sometimes on RAF planes, to be given to key
regional power brokers who could cause trouble for Prime Minister
Hamid Karzai's administration.
“Gul
Agha Sherzai, the governor of the southern province of Kandahar,
Hazrat Ali, a commander in the eastern province of Nangahar, and
several others have been 'bought off' with millions of dollars in
deals brokered by U.S. and British intelligence,” the paper said.
Many
of the commanders benefiting from the operation have been involved in
opium production, drug smuggling on a massive scale and widespread
human-rights abuses, it added.
According
to the paper, foreign Office sources in London confirmed last week
they were aware money was being 'circulated' to key Afghan warlords to
persuade them to support the government.
“It
is certainly true that money has been distributed - it is the way
things work in this part of the world - but no British money [is being
distributed],'” the source said.
'In
any case, you do not buy warlords in Afghanistan: you "rent"
them for a period. The Russians discovered this to their cost. They
would buy off a warlord and after a while he would come back and tell
them: "My men won't wear this arrangement any more. You will have
to give me more money, or we will have to go back to attacking
you".'
However,
The Observer has been told by reliable sources in Afghanistan
and Pakistan that some UK money is being distributed, although most of
it is American.
According
to the paper, relief workers in Afghanistan have criticized the
handouts because they come when funds for emergency help and
reconstruction projects in the war-damaged country are running low.
Cash
for road-building, irrigation and power projects is unlikely even to
reach Afghanistan before 2003, and only £3 billion of the estimated
£10bn needed to rebuild the nation has so far been pledged, it added.
Previous
attempts to buy the loyalty of warlords have met mixed results. During
the battle of Tora Bora in April, local commanders were paid huge sums
to send their own troops into the mountainous cave complexes where bin
Laden was thought to be hiding. The warlords involved in this
operation, including Hazrat Ali, accuse each other of taking bribes
from bin Laden to allow him to escape, the paper said.
In
Paktia province, the Americans paid Pacha Khan Zardran, a local
commander who seized control of the eastern city of Khost last
November, an estimated $400,000 to train and equip fighters to patrol
the border with Pakistan.
Since
then, however, the government in Kabul has installed its own governor
and forced Khan into the mountains, from where his troops have been
shelling civilian areas in a bid to destabilize the new regime.
'You
are playing with fire and pandering to the worst elements in Afghan
culture and society,' said one Pakistan-based Western diplomat.
'Afghanistan
would be better served by expanding peacekeeping forces or more aid
for ordinary people.'
Many
Afghans in Khost blame the rising tension on the United States. Paying
the warlords for their services has triggered clashes among groups
eager to win patronage from the Americans, it said.
“In
some areas commanders have been told they will receive a
top-of-the-range $40,000 pick-up truck - a local status symbol - if
they can prove they have killed Taliban or Al-Qaeda elements,” the
paper said
.
