MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan, 22 November 2003 — Afghan authorities collected 38 tanks from forces loyal to a prominent commander in the north yesterday in a fresh bid to end a bloody and long-running feud between rival warlords.
But there were immediate doubts over whether the initiative to merge two rival factions into a single, smaller force directly loyal to the central government of President Hamid Karzai would work where earlier peace bids have failed.
After a meeting in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif involving Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali and the British ambassador, Tajik commander Ustad Atta Mohammad surrendered the 38 tanks to the control of the government and they were moved to a compound outside the city.
His main rival, Uzbek Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum expressed broad support for the central government’s bid to win control over the unruly region, but he declined to say how many heavy weapons he planned to surrender and when.
“We agree with the decision that has been adopted by the transitional government,” Dostum told reporters after the meeting on the peace plan which has involved British troops serving in a civilian-military team in Mazar. “This time the government wants to put an end to fighting,” said Jalali after the talks.
Dostum and Atta are both officially members of Karzai’s government, which is struggling to extend its control beyond the capital, but they are bitter rivals whose forces have clashed repeatedly since helping to overthrow the Taleban in 2001.
Dostum and Atta attended the meeting along at the British-run provincial reconstruction team (PRT). PRT spokesman Capt. Tom Barker said the 7th corps, dominated by the Jamiat faction of Atta Mohammad, had agreed to surrender tanks.
Meanwhile, US troops have captured four militants suspected of firing rockets on a base in a restive southeast border area dubbed “the most evil place in Afghanistan,” a US military spokesman said.
“Coalition forces brought under control four suspected anti-coalition militia in response to a rocket attack near Shkin firebase,” Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty told reporters at the coalitions Bagram Air Base headquarters north of Kabul.
