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Rumsfeld meets warlords { December 4 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Copyright © 2003 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
Rumsfeld meeting Karzai and warlords
Reuters
Thursday, December 4, 2003
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld began a one-day visit to Afghanistan on Thursday with the focus on issues ranging from war on the Taliban to efforts to rein in provincial warlords and narcotics traffic.
Rumsfeld arrived in the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif where he met rival pro-government warlords, including an ethnic Uzbek, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who has been accused of dragging his feet on efforts to disarm factional militias.
Such militias are seen as the main obstacle to extending central government rule into the unruly provinces and U.S. officials said Rumsfeld, wanted to show support for President Hamid Karzai's efforts to stabilize the region.
"The signal we are trying to send is that this is an important effort that Karzai's trying to do to extend the reach of the central government into the provinces, and particularly into the north," a senior U.S. official with Rumsfeld said.
The Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that Dostum had given up just three tanks in a central government disarmament drive while his main warlord rival in the region, Muhammad Atta, had handed over more than 50.
Rumsfeld also met Atta in Mazar-i-Sharif and, later in Kabul, was to meet Karzai and commanders of the 11,500-member U.S.-led force pursuing Taliban, Al Qaeda and allied Islamic militants.
Afghan officials said talks with Karzai would focus on the battle against militants, efforts to rein in provincial warlords, and ways to stem Afghanistan's massive narcotics output.
On a previous visit in May, Rumsfeld said Washington had moved from major combat operations in Afghanistan to stabilization and reconstruction, a statement that has come back to haunt him.
The months that followed have seen a surge in guerrilla activity and the bloodiest period since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001.
More than 400 people have been killed since August, including Afghan and foreign aid workers, U.S. and Afghan soldiers, officials and police, and many guerrillas. The violence has severely hampered aid work.
UN worker killed in ambush
At least one Afghan UN worker was killed and 11 wounded on Thursday in an ambush by suspected members of the ousted Taliban regime in the west of the country, Reuters reported from Kandahar, quoting a senior provincial official.
Copyright © 2003 The International Herald Tribune
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