KABUL, 22 September 2003 — A delayed program to disarm some 100,000 Afghan militiamen could start as early as next month following a much-delayed reshuffle of the Defense Ministry, United Nations officials said yesterday.
UN senior adviser Sultan Aziz, who is working on the scheme, said disarmament could begin in October with pilot programs to disarm 1,000 men each in the northern city of Kunduz, Gardez in the southeast and the main northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. But, government spokesman Jawed Ludin told Reuters Karzai now planned to launch a plan to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate an estimated 100,000 factional fighters on Oct. 15.
“Within that first month we should be able to cover both Kunduz and Gardez and then we would move to Mazar,” Sultan told reporters. “Then we would start dropping south to Kandahar and then to Kabul.”
President Hamid Karzai announced new key appointments Saturday to the ethnic Tajik-dominated Defense Ministry as part of reforms to allow the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of the militiamen.
The UN had called for urgent reform of the Tajik-dominated ministry, saying it needed to be more representative of Afghanistan’s ethnic mix before disarmament could start.
Eight members of the Pashtun majority were appointed Saturday, in efforts to ease concerns they have been sidelined in the Tajik-dominated post-Taleban administration. The deputy ministerial position was given to a Pashtun, Maj. Gen. Farooq Wardak.
He replaced Gen. Bismillah Khan, a close ally of powerful Tajik Defense Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, who was made chief of staff. Five Tajiks, four Hazaras, two Uzbeks, one Baluchi and one Nuristani were also named to new positions, the ministry said.
Fahim had been accused of packing the ministry with fellow Tajiks from the powerful anti-Taleban Northern Alliance faction which dominates the government of Karzai, who is a Pashtun. Militiamen had been reluctant to hand over weapons while the ministry was dominated by a rival faction.
Meanwhile, Karzai is expected to seek support for security and reconstruction on a trip to some of his main allies that he began yesterday.
Karai left for the United States where he will speak at the UN General Assembly and meet President George W. Bush, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Pervez Musharraf of neighboring Pakistan. He will then visit Canada and Britain, also key allies of his transitional government that came to power after a US-led force overthrew the Taleban in 2001.
Ludin said Karzai would stress on his trip the need for continued international support to speed postwar reconstruction and boost security as he struggles to contain resurgent Taleban guerrillas and prepare for elections due next June.
As Karzai left Kabul, Afghan government officials and donors were in Dubai to discuss assistance to Afghanistan after Washington said it wanted other countries to at least match an additional $1 billion of aid it has pledged.
Ludin said Afghanistan hoped the rest of the world would match the US commitment but added that its focus was now on a long-term vision for rehabilitation over the coming five to 10 years, which was expected to require up to $30 billion.
He said Karzai would discuss ways to enhance security in the countryside, including the possibility of expanding a NATO-led peacekeeping force from Kabul and the deployment of additional civilian-military provincial reconstruction teams.
