KABUL, 9 September 2004 — Tens of thousands of Afghans paid tribute yesterday to Northern Alliance commander Ahmad Shah Masood, slain by Al-Qaeda two days before the Sept. 11 attacks but still a key political icon three years after his death. The ceremony at National Stadium commemorated the third anniversary of Masood’s Sept. 9 assassination, and was held a day after campaigning began for Afghanistan’s first presidential election on Oct. 9.

It took place as 400 Spanish troops arrived in the northern town of Mazar-e-Sharif as part of a plan by NATO-led peacekeepers to boost security for the polls in Northern Alliance territory.

Another 100 Spanish troops are due today to make up a quick reaction force that will stay three months to boost security in Kunduz and Baglan provinces as well as in the towns of Maimana and Mazar, spokesman Maj. Juan Jose Castellanos said.

NATO, which already has a peacekeeping force of about 8,000 based mainly in Kabul, says its deployments in the north aim to bring stability to a region that has seen bloody infighting between Northern Alliance factions since they helped overthrow the Taleban in 2001. But its effort to protect the election has been criticized as inadequate and the United Nations, which is helping to organize the polls, has expressed concern that a failure to properly disarm northern militias could lead to intimidation of voters.

Masood, dubbed “the Lion of the Panjsher”, was the military and political leader of the Alliance, which has encouraged a personality cult to grow up around him even as it has gradually lost cohesion since the Taleban’s fall.

Portraits of Masood can be seen throughout Kabul, far outnumbering those of President Hamid Karzai, who himself feels the need to encourage the cult despite the fact that key Alliance figures have allied against him in the presidential race. “The martyred Masood, the national hero of Afghanistan, is one of the most glittering and luminous figures of the jihad and resistance,” Karzai told more than 20,000 people in the stadium crowd. “He struggled with valor against invading forces for more than two decades.”

The north side of the stadium was dominated by a huge portrait of Masood and thousands held up smaller portraits. Black mourning flags hung from the stadium walls and wreaths were laid from the Presidential palace and ministries as well as the US Embassy.

In the city center, workers were putting finishing touches to a monument and fountain commemorating Masood that has been built at a busy intersection. In recent months, some leaders of the Northern Alliance have emerged as the biggest political threat to Karzai and Washington’s wish to see him retained as president.

Several alliance leaders are backing former Education Minister Yunus Qanuni against Karzai. The bloc has tried to stress Qanuni’s association with Masood by pasting his portrait beside that of Masood all over Kabul. Karzai nevertheless remains favorite to win and has the backing of other alliance heavyweights, notably Masood’s brother Ahmad Zia Masood.

The latter has said Masood’s legacy should not be used to boost campaigns in the vote, which is seen as a crucial test of US nation-building efforts ahead of President George W. Bush’s own bid for re-election in November.

Meanwhile, three Americans on trial in Afghanistan for illegally imprisoning and torturing Afghans have appealed to the US ambassador to request the charges be dropped, lawyers for two of them said yesterday. One of the men, Jonathan “Jack” Idema, has said his actions were sanctioned by the US Defense Department, the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency and that they had denied links with him due to embarrassment over the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq.

Idema, a former Green Beret, is on trial with Brett Bennett and Ed Caraballo. Bennett is another ex-soldier and Caraballo an Emmy award-winning cameraman who was making a documentary. The men face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

Idema’s lawyer, John Edwards Tiffany, and Caraballo’s lawyer, Robert Fogelnest, criticized the Afghan justice system as inadequate to handle such a trial.