Meanwhile in Afghanistan

The coming "warlord war" in America's other occupation.

Ben Fenwick from the November 2004 issue

(Page 5 of 6)

The drama of Dostum vs. Karzai reached a critical juncture in Maimana in late April. Following the governor's ousting, the ANA started "presence patrols" throughout Faryab province. These patrols consisted of a few squads of ANA soldiers escorted by their American advisers, usually officers, along with interpreters and a squad in up-armored Humvees. The patrols, while not ostensibly intended to arrest or prosecute the warlords and their minions, nevertheless unsettled Dostum's hold on the region.

The patrols were the first evidence in Faryab of a new political order. Most villagers had heard of Karzai and the central government, but the patrols, consisting of a multi-ethnic mix of Afghans working in military unison, were the first sign that such a thing existed.

They also gave notice to Dostum's commanders that they would be watched, recorded, and even confronted for their treatment of villagers. Complaints were heard. Reports were taken on illegal taxation, in which villages were taxed either by headcounts on goats and sheep or by taking the livestock itself. Irregulars manning illegal checkpoints were told to pack up and clear away. Forced marriages, in which a woman or girl is snatched from a village for the pleasure of soldiers, ceased in patrolled areas.

The patrols were also a tool of recruitment. ANA officers would make tea time with village elders into an opportunity to show off their soldiers, equipment, and uniforms. They would give a talk about the benefits for young men who chose service in the army: good food, clothing, living quarters, and decent pay. At some of these gatherings, even Dostum officers would ask to join.

But while the wrongdoing of the warlords invited a response, action became ever harder to undertake.

On April 28 the ANA and American denizens of Camp Spartan got their wake-up call.

Mosher gathered the unit together in the Spartan HQ tent to give them the news: Karzai had met in his Kabul palace with a delegation of town elders. The elders had pressed Karzai to allow them to elect their own governor from their town rather than take back the governor who had been ousted. Karzai refused. According to reports, at further badgering by the delegation, the interim president became angry and ordered a plane to take the governor back to Maimana immediately.

Now, Mosher reported, the hated governor was on his way via plane to the Maimana airport. Mosher encouraged his soldiers to review the base defenses once more. "If there was anything on your wish list that you wanted to accomplish, now is the time," Mosher told them.

As the day wore on, the soldiers at Camp Spartan got mixed signals, both from Karzai and from their own command. The governor was on his way, the governor wasn't, and so on back and forth.

In Maimana, a leader of the Jumbish Youth (Dostum's martial youth organization) said, "If the governor comes back we will make this a new Palestine." Reports suggested the leader had ties to Hamas and supposedly had instructed other youths in the organization in the techniques of suicide bombers.

Then, late at night, Mosher got another call. Karzai had changed his mind. He had met again with the elders and agreed to a new election. The governor's plane was diverted to Mazar-I-Sharif. The governor would not be returning -- although his final disposition is still not certain.

Warlord for President

The reversal gave little respite. The next day soldiers loyal to Dostum, armed and on horseback, were reported converging in hills south of Maimana. The renegade commander, Habbibi, had returned to a small village in the middle of an opium-growing area and had taken up residence with up to 300 gun-toting supporters. With opium harvesting season in full swing, Habbibi's motive was obvious. Presence patrols in the area were cancelled. With the fruit withering on the vine, word came that a deal was being cut between Habbibi and Dostum. But the fighting continued through mid-May, with sporadic, sketchy reports of casualties. By June it was quiet again.

Afghanistan's elections were first pushed back from June to September, then to October. Then they were split. The presidential elections would be held in October, followed by parliamentary elections sometime in the spring. Slow registration was predictable in a shattered country torn by 25 years of war, with a generation growing up with a 71 percent illiteracy rate. In some regions with impassable roads, voter registration remained close to zero.

Meanwhile, rhetoric between Dostum and Karzai continued to boil. In mid-July, Dostum announced his candidacy for the presidency, jetting from his stronghold in Sheberghan to Kabul late on the night of July 17. He made the trip in secrecy after agreeing to meet with journalists for Reuters and British television, leaving them waiting for hours at an airstrip near the town. The move seemed an about-face for the former ally of the Soviets, Mujahedin, and Taliban. Dostum had gone from having his followers discourage voter registration to depending on it to keep his stake in Afghan national affairs. It was at that time that a frustrated Karzai told The New York Times the threat of the militias was greater than that from Taliban insurgents, and that "the stick has to be used."

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