Afghan militias sign truce
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AP) – After fighting that killed dozens of people, rival warlords in northern Afghanistan said Thursday that they had reached a truce and would begin withdrawing tanks and other weapons within 48 hours. But with soldiers squared off along a tense battlefield, it was not clear whether the cease-fire would hold despite assurances from both sides.
The fighting between the two groups – both nominally loyal to President Hamid Karzai – was the worst in northern Afghanistan in months, with one side claiming more than 60 people were killed.
One warlord, Atta Mohammed, said the truce took effect immediately and that both sides would return all weaponry to their bases in 48 hours.
“I am sure this cease-fire will hold,” Mohammed told The Associated Press.
Gen. Majid Rozi, a senior commander for northern warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, confirmed the details of the truce and said the withdrawal of weapons had begun.
The agreement followed talks involving Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali and British Ambassador Ron Nash.
“If there is no peace in the north of the country, it will damage the trust the international community has in us,” Jalali said after the signing of the truce on Thursday.
Much of the fighting has occurred about 12 miles west of Mazar-e-Sharif, home to 1.5 million people and scene of some of the bloodiest battles in the U.S.-led war to oust Afghanistan’s former Taliban regime.
The United Nations said the fighting that began Wednesday resulted in a “high numbers of casualties,” but did not have precise figures. One side said more than 60 died, but the other said it was fewer.
A spokesman for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, said the conflict was “very intense,” with both sides using tanks and mortars.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the fighting. A government spokesman in Kabul said it was most likely due to disputes over land or access to water, the cause of repeated clashes in the past two years.
The U.S. military in Afghanistan said it was concerned about the fighting and was closely monitoring it.
Hours after the signing of the truce, the battlefield was still tense, commanders said, and it was not clear whether the deal would hold.
Residents of Mazar-e-Sharif were less than optimistic.
“I do not believe in this cease-fire. It will just collapse,” said Abdul Kadir, a guest house owner. Another resident, a teacher who only gave her name as Aziza, said foreign peacekeepers were needed to stop the fighting.
“Please Mr. Karzai send … (peacekeeping) troops to Mazar-e-Sharif,” she said.
There are about 5,500 NATO-led peacekeepers in Afghanistan, but they are restricted to Kabul. NATO has drawn up plans to expand the force to other cities, including Mazar-e-Sharif.
Both warring sides claim allegiance to the Afghan president and are members of the Northern Alliance, which helped U.S.-led forces oust the Taliban in late 2001.
The loose coalition of warlords is split along factional and ethnic lines and clashes between them are common.
The Northern Alliance supported Karzai as interim president after the Taliban’s ouster. Several ministers in his Cabinet are northern warlords.
But with presidential elections scheduled for next June, some alliance members are believed to be considering withdrawing their support for Karzai and backing other candidates.
The fighting came as U.N. and Afghan personnel prepared to deploy to northern cities to start disarming militiamen. A team is scheduled to be in Mazar-e-Sharif before year’s end.
The fighting follows an upsurge in attacks in the south by Taliban and al-Qaida militants against American forces, aid workers and the U.S.-backed Afghan government. There are about 11,500 U.S.-led coalition troops in Afghanistan searching for Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts.