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Afghanistan at the mercy of U.S.-backed warlords
Afghanistan’s coming elections are in jeopardy, and not just because of a revived Taliban. The warlord armies that Washington used to oust the Taliban in 2001 now pose an even greater danger, as Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, made plain this week to Carlotta Gall and David Rohde of The Times. President Bush is largely responsible for this situation, having first decided to fight the war against the Taliban on the cheap and then leaving the job of nation-building undone while he diverted U.S. forces to Iraq. Now the Bush administration must heed Karzai’s warning and do much more to help him curb these private armies and the exploding opium business that finances them.
Bush’s blunders in Afghanistan followed decades of shortsighted US policies that built up the power of these warlords. Many of them got their start in the U.S.-financed guerrilla movement that forced Soviet occupation troops out of Afghanistan a decade and a half ago. Soon after, they began fighting one another, terrorizing civilians and opening the way for the Taliban.
The warlords got an unexpected chance to rebuild their power when the Bush administration chose to rely mainly on their private armies to eject the Taliban from Kabul in late 2001. After the war, with the Pentagon already intent on sending troops to Iraq, the United States kept only a limited combat force to battle Taliban fighters and their local allies in southeastern Afghanistan, leaving Karzai largely at the mercy of the warlords.
Moving effectively against the warlords will be difficult now that the United States has allowed the situation to deteriorate so far. Together they have far more troops than Karzai’s nascent national army, and he has been forced to cut dangerous short-term deals with them. The first step should be to mobilize international pressure against one or two of the most notorious warlords, in the hope that others will get the message and fall in line.
A prime target should be Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a militant Islamist, long backed by Saudi Arabia, whose fighters have been responsible for multiple human rights abuses and war crimes over the years, including a 1993 massacre of civilians in Kabul. At this year’s constitutional assembly, he was prominent among those trying to intimidate delegates, particularly women. The constitution that ultimately emerged struck an uneasy balance between secular liberties and harsh Islamic strictures. Now Sayyaf and his armed followers are trying to make sure that Afghanistan’s highest court interprets the constitution in accordance with their fiercely fundamentalist views. Sayyaf’s private army gives him the power to impose his nominees for security and judicial positions. Disarming his followers should be an international priority.
Another dangerous warlord is Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, who, in addition to being the government’s defense minister, commands a private army of at least 50,000 fighters. Fahim hopes to be Karzai’s vice-presidential running mate in the election now scheduled for October. He should not be allowed to do so unless he disarms his private militia, a step he has repeatedly resisted.
To curb the warlords further, Nato should expand its peacekeeping role. New jobs also need to be found for those now making their living as fighters for hire. There is no need to extend the area of US combat operations. Even in the southeast, where the United States has concentrated its military efforts, the results have been mixed at best. The Taliban have never been thoroughly routed, and local resentment over the long-term presence of foreign forces and claims of errant bombs that kill civilians seems to be creating new recruits.
Ultimate victory in Afghanistan requires an effective national government, freed from both the Taliban and the warlords.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=Opinion&OID=55395
The warlords got an unexpected chance to rebuild their power when the Bush administration chose to rely mainly on their private armies to eject the Taliban from Kabul in late 2001. After the war, with the Pentagon already intent on sending troops to Iraq, the United States kept only a limited combat force to battle Taliban fighters and their local allies in southeastern Afghanistan, leaving Karzai largely at the mercy of the warlords.
Moving effectively against the warlords will be difficult now that the United States has allowed the situation to deteriorate so far. Together they have far more troops than Karzai’s nascent national army, and he has been forced to cut dangerous short-term deals with them. The first step should be to mobilize international pressure against one or two of the most notorious warlords, in the hope that others will get the message and fall in line.
A prime target should be Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a militant Islamist, long backed by Saudi Arabia, whose fighters have been responsible for multiple human rights abuses and war crimes over the years, including a 1993 massacre of civilians in Kabul. At this year’s constitutional assembly, he was prominent among those trying to intimidate delegates, particularly women. The constitution that ultimately emerged struck an uneasy balance between secular liberties and harsh Islamic strictures. Now Sayyaf and his armed followers are trying to make sure that Afghanistan’s highest court interprets the constitution in accordance with their fiercely fundamentalist views. Sayyaf’s private army gives him the power to impose his nominees for security and judicial positions. Disarming his followers should be an international priority.
Another dangerous warlord is Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, who, in addition to being the government’s defense minister, commands a private army of at least 50,000 fighters. Fahim hopes to be Karzai’s vice-presidential running mate in the election now scheduled for October. He should not be allowed to do so unless he disarms his private militia, a step he has repeatedly resisted.
To curb the warlords further, Nato should expand its peacekeeping role. New jobs also need to be found for those now making their living as fighters for hire. There is no need to extend the area of US combat operations. Even in the southeast, where the United States has concentrated its military efforts, the results have been mixed at best. The Taliban have never been thoroughly routed, and local resentment over the long-term presence of foreign forces and claims of errant bombs that kill civilians seems to be creating new recruits.
Ultimate victory in Afghanistan requires an effective national government, freed from both the Taliban and the warlords.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=Opinion&OID=55395
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Look at the type of people just showing up in Afghanistan to run things: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/11/international/asia/11afgh.html?hp
Portrait of a U.S. Vigilante in Afghanistan
By DAVID ROHDE
Published: July 11, 2004
KABUL, Afghanistan, July 10 - Journalists remember him as Jack, an eccentric, heavily armed and at times, it seemed, dangerously unbalanced, middle-aged former American Special Forces soldier, who appeared in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001.
Surrounded by armed Afghan guards and rumors that he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, he quickly rose to prominence. In the next two years, he was interviewed by Fox and CBS News, helped write a book called "The Hunt for bin Laden" and said he had discovered evidence in Afghanistan that linked Iraq to Al Qaeda.
This week, Jack, a convicted felon whose real name is Jonathan Keith Idema, was arrested with two other Americans and accused of running his own vigilante antiterrorism campaign in Kabul. Afghan and American officials said that Mr. Idema, 48, and the two other Americans posed as government officials and illegally imprisoned at least eight innocent Afghan men for 10 days or more.
A senior Western diplomat said Saturday that Mr. Idema's campaign appeared to have been an attempt to get American intelligence agencies to take him seriously. American officials have said that Mr. Idema had no ties to the American government. "Perhaps if he did something successful," the diplomat said, "the government would pay attention to him."
In an article about the exploits of Mr. Idema's group sent by e-mail to news organizations in Kabul just before his arrest, a journalist identified as Mohammed Ashimey wrote that a "supersecret group" of "renegade Green Berets" had decided to break up a major terrorist plot in Kabul "without United States support and without government funds."
But local Afghan journalists said they had never heard of Mr. Ashimey, and there was no response to a message sent to the e-mail account from which the article originated.
In breathless prose, the article said the former commandos, frustrated by American government inaction, had dubbed themselves Task Force Saber and had arrested 13 people suspected of terrorism since arriving in Afghanistan three months ago. The article, which sounded like it could have been written by an American, included an accurate description of the illegal arrests that led to Mr. Idema's detention and a fawning description of his work.
"Driving beat up old S.U.V.'s, wearing low-slung holsters like Clint Eastwood, long hair, beards and Afghan scarfs, the Green Berets operated they way they did during the 2001-2002 war, with no rules, no oversight and no plan," the article said. "Changing cities, houses and bases every few days, they seem to appear and disappear at will."
American and Afghan officials are still investigating how many Afghans Mr. Idema detained during his spree, how long it lasted and whether he harmed anyone.
The Western diplomat said bloody clothes had been found at a house in Kabul where the Afghan authorities freed five of the Afghans whom Mr. Idema had been holding prisoner.
Black curtains still hang over two back rooms where prisoners were held in his house in Kabul. Prisoners also appeared to have been tied to chairs in the kitchen and bathroom, Afghan officials said. In an office, there were two clocks on the wall, one showing the time in Kabul and one showing the time at Fort Bragg, the military base used by Special Operations forces in North Carolina. A piece of paper on the wall was titled "Missions to Complete" and listed various tasks. Item No. 2 was "Karzai." Item No. 4 was "pick up laundry."
One of the prisoners, Muhammad Hanif, a 19-year-old mechanic, said in an interview on Saturday that when Mr. Idema's group arrested him, they burst into the house where he was working and fired shots into the ceiling. Local police who arrived at the scene said the armed Americans said they were with the United States military.
When he and seven other prisoners were taken to Mr. Idema's house, they found an Afghan named Sher Ali, who said he had been imprisoned there for six days. The next day, Mr. Ali was gone.
Mr. Hanif said he had been denied food and water for the first three days of his imprisonment and at one point had become so weak that he had lost consciousness. Through 10 days of imprisonment, he said, his hands were tied and a bag was placed over his head. He said that when the prisoners had asked their captors if they could pray, one American had answered: "You are terrorists. Why do you pray and what do you pray for?"
Afghan officials said all the men Mr. Idema arrested appeared to be innocent.
Mr. Idema grew up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., joined the Army in 1975, and was on active duty for three years before joining a Reserve Special Forces unit in New York, according to The Fayetteville Observer.
In December 2000, he was featured in an article in The New York Times about pet owners who believed animal cloning may eventually be possible.
Mr. Idema, who lived in Fayetteville, N.C., at the time, said he had saved some genetic material from Sarge, a dog he had used while serving as a soldier. Mr. Idema said the dog had parachuted out of planes with him and sniffed bombs.
In 1994, a federal jury in Fayetteville found Mr. Idema guilty of wire fraud, according to court documents. Prosecutors said he faked credit reports and established a false company to obtain roughly $270,000 in merchandise for his troubled military equipment business, Idema Combat Systems. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
Ali Ahmed Jalali, the Afghan interior minister, questioned how Mr. Idema was able to operate without being noticed by foreign intelligence agencies. He said that in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Mr. Idema's spree would fuel Afghan suspicions of American forces.
"There are people who are trying to find excuses to blame everything on the Americans," he said. "He was running a prison in Kabul."
Portrait of a U.S. Vigilante in Afghanistan
By DAVID ROHDE
Published: July 11, 2004
KABUL, Afghanistan, July 10 - Journalists remember him as Jack, an eccentric, heavily armed and at times, it seemed, dangerously unbalanced, middle-aged former American Special Forces soldier, who appeared in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001.
Surrounded by armed Afghan guards and rumors that he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, he quickly rose to prominence. In the next two years, he was interviewed by Fox and CBS News, helped write a book called "The Hunt for bin Laden" and said he had discovered evidence in Afghanistan that linked Iraq to Al Qaeda.
This week, Jack, a convicted felon whose real name is Jonathan Keith Idema, was arrested with two other Americans and accused of running his own vigilante antiterrorism campaign in Kabul. Afghan and American officials said that Mr. Idema, 48, and the two other Americans posed as government officials and illegally imprisoned at least eight innocent Afghan men for 10 days or more.
A senior Western diplomat said Saturday that Mr. Idema's campaign appeared to have been an attempt to get American intelligence agencies to take him seriously. American officials have said that Mr. Idema had no ties to the American government. "Perhaps if he did something successful," the diplomat said, "the government would pay attention to him."
In an article about the exploits of Mr. Idema's group sent by e-mail to news organizations in Kabul just before his arrest, a journalist identified as Mohammed Ashimey wrote that a "supersecret group" of "renegade Green Berets" had decided to break up a major terrorist plot in Kabul "without United States support and without government funds."
But local Afghan journalists said they had never heard of Mr. Ashimey, and there was no response to a message sent to the e-mail account from which the article originated.
In breathless prose, the article said the former commandos, frustrated by American government inaction, had dubbed themselves Task Force Saber and had arrested 13 people suspected of terrorism since arriving in Afghanistan three months ago. The article, which sounded like it could have been written by an American, included an accurate description of the illegal arrests that led to Mr. Idema's detention and a fawning description of his work.
"Driving beat up old S.U.V.'s, wearing low-slung holsters like Clint Eastwood, long hair, beards and Afghan scarfs, the Green Berets operated they way they did during the 2001-2002 war, with no rules, no oversight and no plan," the article said. "Changing cities, houses and bases every few days, they seem to appear and disappear at will."
American and Afghan officials are still investigating how many Afghans Mr. Idema detained during his spree, how long it lasted and whether he harmed anyone.
The Western diplomat said bloody clothes had been found at a house in Kabul where the Afghan authorities freed five of the Afghans whom Mr. Idema had been holding prisoner.
Black curtains still hang over two back rooms where prisoners were held in his house in Kabul. Prisoners also appeared to have been tied to chairs in the kitchen and bathroom, Afghan officials said. In an office, there were two clocks on the wall, one showing the time in Kabul and one showing the time at Fort Bragg, the military base used by Special Operations forces in North Carolina. A piece of paper on the wall was titled "Missions to Complete" and listed various tasks. Item No. 2 was "Karzai." Item No. 4 was "pick up laundry."
One of the prisoners, Muhammad Hanif, a 19-year-old mechanic, said in an interview on Saturday that when Mr. Idema's group arrested him, they burst into the house where he was working and fired shots into the ceiling. Local police who arrived at the scene said the armed Americans said they were with the United States military.
When he and seven other prisoners were taken to Mr. Idema's house, they found an Afghan named Sher Ali, who said he had been imprisoned there for six days. The next day, Mr. Ali was gone.
Mr. Hanif said he had been denied food and water for the first three days of his imprisonment and at one point had become so weak that he had lost consciousness. Through 10 days of imprisonment, he said, his hands were tied and a bag was placed over his head. He said that when the prisoners had asked their captors if they could pray, one American had answered: "You are terrorists. Why do you pray and what do you pray for?"
Afghan officials said all the men Mr. Idema arrested appeared to be innocent.
Mr. Idema grew up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., joined the Army in 1975, and was on active duty for three years before joining a Reserve Special Forces unit in New York, according to The Fayetteville Observer.
In December 2000, he was featured in an article in The New York Times about pet owners who believed animal cloning may eventually be possible.
Mr. Idema, who lived in Fayetteville, N.C., at the time, said he had saved some genetic material from Sarge, a dog he had used while serving as a soldier. Mr. Idema said the dog had parachuted out of planes with him and sniffed bombs.
In 1994, a federal jury in Fayetteville found Mr. Idema guilty of wire fraud, according to court documents. Prosecutors said he faked credit reports and established a false company to obtain roughly $270,000 in merchandise for his troubled military equipment business, Idema Combat Systems. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
Ali Ahmed Jalali, the Afghan interior minister, questioned how Mr. Idema was able to operate without being noticed by foreign intelligence agencies. He said that in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Mr. Idema's spree would fuel Afghan suspicions of American forces.
"There are people who are trying to find excuses to blame everything on the Americans," he said. "He was running a prison in Kabul."
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