A fiery rebel leader has gathered his own militia and chased out the governor and other appointed stoolies. The locals seem to be cheering him on, yet heavy fighting continues as the battle for the area goes on. All this fighting is putting the transition of power on hold.
Am I talking about Iraq? No, I'm talking about Afghanistan:
From
here:
Forces of a renegade adviser to President Hamid Karzai overran the capital of a northern province of Afghanistan on Thursday, creating a fresh security headache for the government and its U.S.-led foreign backers.
General Abdul Rashid Dostum's largely ethnic Uzbek militia invaded Faryab from neighboring provinces on Wednesday, prompting the central government to send national troops there on Thursday in an attempt to maintain control.
The fighting in the north and another outbreak in the western province of Herat last month have been an unwanted diversion for Karzai and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan even as they battle Taliban and allied militants in the south and east.
The latest unrest bodes ill for President Bush's hopes for a successful election in Afghanistan later in the year to offset the mounting problems he faces in Iraq.
From here:
Troops loyal to ethnic Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum swept into Maymana, the center of Faryab province, 260 miles northwest of Kabul, on Thursday morning, Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said.
"Today, at 10 o'clock, militia troops loyal to General Dostum entered Maymana city," Jalali said. "They have control of the city."
Jalali said there were no reports of casualties, but Dostum aides said guards had fired on a crowd, killing four, as Gov. Enayatullah Enayat was rushed to an airport.
Fighters swarming in front of the offices of the Kabul-appointed governor fired into the air and threw rocks at the building, the minister said.
"What General Dostum has done is against all military rules and the constitution of Afghanistan," Jalali told a news conference.
The fighting was bad news for Karzai, and sure to lead to deep concern in Washington over the future stability of Afghanistan, just as American forces are facing a surge of violence in Iraq.
The city of Maymana fell before the arrival of hundreds of U.S.-trained Afghan soldiers, who left Kabul for Faryab on Thursday afternoon. It was the second major burst of militia violence to rock Afghanistan in less than a month, and threw into further doubt this country's readiness for national elections scheduled for September.
Trucks and pickups had ferried hundreds of green-bereted Afghan National Army troops armed with assault rifles and machine-guns to Kabul airport.
Some clambered into a transporter provided by the U.S.-led military coalition, which flew them toward Faryab, while others waited for a second aircraft.
Officials in Faryab have accused Dostum, who has maintained a large private army and strong political control in the region since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, of trying to drive them out of office for allying too closely with Karzai's central government.
A Dostum aide in Kabul said the Uzbek strongman had discussed the situation in Faryab with elders from that province, but ordered no moves against Enayat or Hashim Khan, the commander of the 200th Afghan army division, who Jalali said had also fled Maymana.
The aide, Akbar Boy, said government troops were welcome in the region, but suggested there would be a violent backlash if they sided with the embattled officials, whom he accused of using government funds to try to buy votes and influence ahead of September's elections.
Why, it sounds exactly like what happened a month ago in the city of Herat! Of course it turns out that General Dostam led a similar insurrection just last year as well.
But all this current fighting is in the Northwest. How are things going in the South?
Clashes in Afghanistan left at least seven people dead, including four Afghan soldiers and police officers in the country's insurgency-torn south, officials said Thursday.
A militant and an Afghan soldier were killed in a gunbattle that also left an American soldier and a second Afghan wounded, the U.S. military said. The soldiers were not identified and no details of their injuries were given.
Shooting broke out Wednesday during a joint Afghan-U.S. operation near Gereshk, some 350 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul, in Helmand province, U.S. military spokeswoman Michele DeWerth said.
"U.S. troops were conducting a cordon and search when they came under attack,'' DeWerth said. "Four anti-coalition militia (were) detained and one killed.''
DeWerth said the dead Afghan soldier was a member of the new U.S.-trained Afghan National Army. A government official said the troops came under fire as they prepared to search a house in a village early Wednesday.
"Some people opened fire on them from another house nearby with AK-47s and rockets,'' the official said on condition of anonymity. "The fighting went on for three hours.''
Wow... three hours. Who is winning now?
So, how do you think Afghanistan's first elections are going to turn out?
According to AIP, Taliban spokesman Latifullah Hakimi issued the warning in a statement distributed to newspapers in northwestern Pakistan.
"The United States wants to hold elections in Afghanistan to suppress the sentiments of jehad.
"Do not take part in elections otherwise strict accountability will be held. A record of names and addresses of those who are taking part in elections is being prepared and on the basis of this evidence strict accountability will be done," he warned.
Sounds on track!
Meanwhile, India is pissed because a recent United Nations report downplayed the strength of the Taliban:
"In our view reports of the UN secretariat must be objective, far more discerning and reflective of the ground realities," he told the 15-member Council. Nambiar strongly criticised the latest report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and briefing by the peacekeeping department for making "scant" reference to security threats by Taliban and Al Qaida terrorists and "preferring" to refer to them as "extremists". "Is it the UN's view that these groups no long represent a threat to Afghanistan or are these reports and briefings in the Council the product of some compromise? Or did absence of any reference to these organisations imply that the work the Security Council Committee on Taliban/Al Qaida had achieved closure, at least in Afghanistan?" [Indian Ambassador] Nambiar asked.
Meanwhile, western troops can't even maintain enough water for their troops in Kabul and Pakistan and the U.S. are in the middle of a feud.
Sounds like everything is right on track. For the record, the first American bombs fell on Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. That's 914 days or 2 and a half years. Where are we at Rice, Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush?
Where is Iraq going to be a year and a half into the future? If it's anything like Afghanistan, it's going to be awful.
Salaam and Peace to all
-Soj