KABUL/WASHINGTON, 3 February — Afghanistan’s interim leader Hamid Karzai was back home yesterday after trips to Washington and London to face an increasingly perilous security situation which has seen simmering tribal rivalry explode in bloodshed. While US forces have all but destroyed Afghan operations of the Al-Qaeda network of Osama Bin Laden, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on America, the country’s propensity for factional fighting was again in evidence.
In the east, forces led by a government-appointed provincial chief vowed to counterattack the town of Gardez, from which they were driven on Friday after two days of battles with rival Pashtun tribal troops. Tense armed standoffs reportedly continued in the far north between ethnic factions in the government, particularly troops loyal to Uzbek Deputy Defense Minister Abdul Rashid Dostum and Tajik Defense Minister Qasim Fahim and some 40 fighters were killed, an official from another faction in the area said.
