HERAT, 19 June 2004 — A renegade commander took control of a remote Afghan provincial capital yesterday after clashes in which 18 people were killed or wounded and the governor forced to flee, officials and combatants said.
In separate attacks in the south and center of the country, an Afghan interpreter was killed and two US soldiers and two New Zealand special forces troops wounded, while the UN refugee agency office was hit by rockets in the city of Kandahar.
The upheaval in Chaghcharan, capital of the central province of Ghor, presents a fresh crisis for President Hamid Karzai and his efforts to impose his authority in the provinces by disarming regional militias.
Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimy confirmed that Chaghcharan was “completely under the control of the forces of Abdul Salaam Khan” and that government troops had withdrawn. The provincial police chief earlier vowed that government forces would recapture the city.
Azimy said Karzai was expected to chair an emergency meeting of the National Security Council today and it was a “definite possibility” that troops from the fledgling national army would be sent to restore order.
Khan said he and several other commanders opposed to the local pro-Karzai administration had joined forces to take the city. “The situation is calm. There is no trouble here,” he said.
Ghor Governor Ibrahim Malikzada said on Thursday he had taken refuge in Herat, the main city to the west of his remote and rugged province.
It was the third time a provincial governor has been forced to flee to safety in recent months by local commanders opposed to Karzai’s appointments to the provinces.
US military aircraft flew over Chaghcharan overnight, but did not launch any attacks, the combatants said.
Tension rose in Ghor last month after Khan, who is from Afghanistan’s largest Pashtun clan, a minority in Ghor, refused to disarm unless Karzai gave him a local government role.
The government sent a delegation last month to try to stave off fighting, but it failed to reduce tensions and foreign aid agency workers left Ghor this week, fearing violence.
