- Title: AFGHANISTAN: WARLORD PADSHAH KHAN ZADRAN REMAINS DEFIANT IN HIS MOUNTAIN HIDEOUT
- Date: 25th September 2003
- Summary: (W3) WAZIR CHECKPOINT, KHOST, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) 1. SLV PADSHAH KHAN ZADRAN WALKING WITH HIS MEN; MV PADSHAH KHAN SITTING WITH HIS MEN (4 SHOTS) 0.21 2. (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto)PADSHAH KHAN, AFGHAN WARLORD SAYING "They offered me the governorship at that time but nothing happened as it was promised and they didn't respect my feelings. So if someone respects us we will respect them, but if they don't respect us why should I respect them." 0.46 (W3)GARDEZ, AFGHANISTAN (FILE) (REUTERS) 3. SLV/SCU WEAPONS/ARMS IN KHAN'S ARMOURY (6 SHOTS) 1.18 (W3)WAZIR CHECKPOINT, KHOST, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) 4. (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) KHAN SAYING: "People here are not ready to give up their weapons. They need them to defend themselves against the Taliban and al Qaeda who are crossing from Pakistan. If the government wants to disarm people, they should start by disarming in Kabul and the Panjsher valley where there is no threat." 1.40 (W3)KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) 5. SLV AFGHAN ARMY TROOPS MARCHING; MV KARZAI AND FAHIM WATCHING AFGHAN ARMY TROOPS MARCHING; SLV AFGHAN ARMY TROOPS MARCHING (4 SHOTS) 2.04 (W3)WAZIR CHECKPOINT, KHOST, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) 6. SLV KHAN WITH HIS MEN; SCU FLAG FLYING (3 SHOTS) 2.15 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) KHAN SAYING "How can they call me a warlord? Those who are calling others warlords, they themselves are warlords. And by saying this, they are ruining their own reputation." 2.31 (W3)KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) 9. WIDE OF INTERVIEW WITH SALLY AUSTIN, CARE INTERNATIONAL 2.36 10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTIN SAYING "Yes, they're a stumbling block. The coalition still is working alongside warlord armies. They're fighting with them in Khost, Zabul and in other areas in the south. So when we start talking about demobilisation and these people are being trained, encouraged to keep operating, plus being hired by the coalition to provide security, it doesn't fit well with the long-term objectives of providing peace to this country." 3.06 (W3)KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) 11. SLV/MV CANADIAN ISAF TROOPS ON PATROL (5 SHOTS) 3.30 (W3)KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (SEPTEMBER 17, 2003) (REUTERS) 12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTIN SAYING: "It's to get an international peacekeeping force providing security more than just in Kabul which can then also work to help address the training of police and Afghan National Army that can replace such bands of gun carriers working to other people outside the army." 3.51 (W3)WAZIR CHECKPOINT, KHOST, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) 13. SLV KHAN WITH HIS MEN (3 SHOTS) 4.03 14. (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) KHAN SAYING: "War is not the solution to everything. So far we haven't decided to fight or not, but if everything passes the boundaries then I will have to think about it." 4.22 15. MV KHAN WITH HIS MEN 4.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th October 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: GARDEZ AND KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- Country: Afghanistan
- Reuters ID: LVAC1TEQKFFVUUE8I6XJOMM6QMVL
- Story Text: Afghan warlord remains defiant in his mountain
hideout, insists his people are not ready to give up their
weapons.
In this area of Khost in eastern Afghanistan, one
man holds control - Padshah Khan Zadran.
With dozens of armed men standing guard around him at
all times, and various checkpoints being manned by his own
people, Khan fits the bill of a typical Afghan warlord.
Khan is a self-proclaimed leader of the Zadran tribe of
eastern Afghanistan, but his political standing collapsed
after Afghan President Hamid Karzai sacked him as governor
of Paktia last February.
"They offered me the governorship at that time but
nothing happened as it was promised and they didn't respect
my feelings. So if someone respects us we will respect
them, but if they don't respect us why should I respect
them," said Khan.
Khan responded by showering the provincial capital
Gardez with rockets, then moved east to Khost where he took
control of the town by force before being kicked out a year
ago.
Once a close ally of U.S. forces fighting Taliban and
al Qaeda militants, he was also accused by a tribal council
in Gardez of calling in U.S. airstrikes on his rivals on
the pretext that they were Taliban and al Qaeda officials.
He claims to have 100,000 armed followers but hardly
anyone believes that.
Most pundits however agree that Khan is the
personification of a major problem facing Karzai's
government, even though he himself may not pose the threat
he once did to the stability in his region.
How will the Karzai government convince the country's
myriad militia commanders to give up their arms, when
security is deteriorating and confidence in the Kabul
administration ebbing all the time?
"People here are not ready to give up their weapons.
They need them to defend themselves against the Taliban and
al Qaeda who are crossing from Pakistan. If the government
wants to disarm people, they should start by disarming in
Kabul and the Panjsher valley where there is no threat,"
Khan said.
Like many Afghans, Khan feels the real power in Kabul
is still held by a small group of Tajiks from the Panjsher,
led by Defence Minister and Vice President Mohammad Qasim
Fahim.
He will not surrender his arms unless that changes, he
says.
The much-awaited reforms in the country's
Tajik-dominated defence ministry have resulted in the
appointment of more Pashtuns in the ministry but the
control remained in the hands of Fahim, while another
Tajik, Bismillah Khan was named army chief of staff.
Analysts said it remained to be seen if Fahim's rivals
would be sufficiently confident in their new representation
in the ministry to go along with an ambitious arm to disarm
and demobilise 100,000 factional fighters, including those
of Khan's, threatening post-war reconstruction efforts and
elections due to be held next year.
And criticisms that he's a warlord are quickly rebutted.
"How can they call me a warlord? Those who are calling
others warlords, they themselves are warlords. And by
saying this, they are ruining their own reputation," Khan
said.
But aid agencies who are exposed to people like Khan
say that although these warlords and their armed forces are
mainly sources of insecurity, some do provide the only
security in certain areas.
And the lack of general policy on how to deal with
these groups compounds the situation.
Coalition troops, mostly American soldiers, hunting
down Taliban and al Qaeda remnants have been operating in
the southern and eastern parts of the country side by side
with Afghan militia forces.
"Yes, they're a stumbling block. The coalition still is
working alongside warlord armies. They're fighting with
them in Khost, Zabul and in other areas in the south. So
when we start talking about demobilisation and these people
are being trained, encouraged to keep operating, plus being
hired by the coalition to provide security, it doesn't fit
well with the long-term objectives of providing peace to
this country," said Sally Austin of CARE International.
CARE, which has been working in Afghanistan since the
1960s, has recently issued a report warning that
Afghanistan will be on a "road to hell" unless the outside
world provides more reconstruction funds urgently and
improves security by deploying peacekeepers around the
country.
NATO is considering expanding its 5,000-strong
peacekeeping force in Afghanistan beyond the capital Kabul,
after repeated appeals by the Afghan government, the United
Nations and international aid agencies like CARE.
But contributing nations have so far been reluctant to
commit troops for a broader role for the International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
"Get an international peacekeeping force providing
security more than just in Kabul which can then also work
to help address the training of police and Afghan National
Army that can replace such bands of gun carriers working to
other people outside the army," said Austin.
But until the security situation is improved, Austin
warns that warlords like Khan will continue to have
control, and the country's over-all situation is likely to
go back to what it was two years ago.
And despite pledges to keep the peace, defiance shown
by warlords like Khan is anything but encouraging.
"War is not the solution to everything. So far we
haven't decided to fight or not, but if everything passes
the boundaries then I will have to think about it," Khan
said.
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