SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, 7 October 2003 — A close aide to supreme Taleban leader Mulla Omar has been killed in a clash in south Afghanistan, an Afghan official said yesterday, the second major blow to the hard-line Islamic movement in under a month.
News of the death of Mulla Abdul Razzaq Nafees, a member of the 10-strong Taleban Shoura (council) formed in June, came just days after the Taleban confirmed that Mulla Abdur Rahim, its top military commander in southern Afghanistan, had been killed.
Abdul Razzaq Achakzai, a senior Afghan military commander, said Nafees was killed in a clash with US-led coalition and Afghan forces about 10 days ago in central Uruzgan province.
“He was among the many Taleban killed in that fighting,” he said. “The Taleban are persistently showing signs of weakness,” Achakzai told Reuters in Spin Boldak.
Meanwhile, NATO agreed yesterday to extend an Alliance-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan beyond the capital Kabul to help clamp down on a recent rise in violence blamed on Taleban. The decision, which has to be approved by the UN, would see German forces taking the lead in extending the International Security Assistance Force, which NATO has commanded since August.
NATO chief George Robertson will contact UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to confirm the Alliance’s willingness to broaden the mandate of the 5,300-strong peacekeeping force, which is currently confined to Kabul.
In another development, some 400 sacked military officers yesterday gathered in front of the presidential palace in the Afghan capital to protest against their dismissal and demand wages they said had not been paid for months.
The officers were dismissed as part of reforms at the Ministry of Defense intended to make it more representative of the country’s ethnic and regional diversity.
“Thousands of experienced officers were sacked and sent to the reserve forces department but even being reserve force officers we have not received our salary for the past nine months,” said former Maj. Abdul Matine.
