Pax Americana in Afghanistan: Warlords do their thing

[Hakki Alacakaptan]

Pasha Khan Zadran, of recent fame for using his CIA-donated satellite phone
for caling down B-52 strikes on his enemies, is now shooting them up with
his own means:

Hakki
--------------------------------
2 Afghan Warlords Battle for Province
John F. Burns New York Times
Thursday, January 31, 2002

Worst Fighting Since Taliban Fell


http://www.iht.com/cgi-bin/generic.cgi?template=articleprint.tmplh&ArticleId
=46570

GARDEZ, Afghanistan After two months of rising tensions between rival
warlords across much of Afghanistan, this strategic city 130 kilometers
south of Kabul has erupted in heavy fighting that continued Thursday with
bursts of mortar, rocket and rifle fire, and smoke from exploding
ammunition.

At least 40 people have been killed in the fighting for Gardez between
forces led by Padsha Khan Zadran and a rival warlord, Saifullah, Agence
France-Presse reported Thursday, quoting Wazer Khan, a brother of Padsha
Khan, who was recently appointed governor of Paktia Province. With U.S.
warplanes circling high above, rivals seeking to control Paktia Province
battled inconclusively along the main road to Kabul, the capital, from the
southern border with Pakistan.

Apart from relatively minor skirmishes, the fighting was the first time
since the rapid collapse of the Taliban across southern Afghanistan two
months ago that Afghans from groups that opposed the Taliban have gone to
war with one another.

In an illustration of the general confusion of Afghanistan today, former
Taliban supporters are present on both sides.
(...)