Warlords are back in power

KABUL, Afghanistan

Warlords helped drive the Russians from Afghanistan, then shelled Kabul into ruins in a bloody civil war after the Soviets left.

Now they are back in positions of power, in part because the U.S. relied on them in 2001 to help oust the Taliban after the Sept. 11 attacks. President Hamid Karzai later reached out to them to shore up his own power base as America turned its attention to Iraq after the Taliban’s rout.

With the Taliban resurging, the entrenched power of the warlords is complicating Mr. Karzai’s promises to rid his new government of corruption and cronies, steps seen as critical to building support among Afghans against the insurgents.

“You can’t build a new political system with old politicians accused of war crimes,” said lawmaker Ramazan Bashardost, who finished third in the country’s fraud-marred August election. “You can’t have peace with warlords in control.”

Two of Mr. Karzai’s vice presidents - Mohammed Qasim Fahim and Karim Khalili - are warlords, or at least ex-warlords. His outgoing military adviser, Abdul Rashid Dostum, has been accused of overseeing the suffocation deaths of up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners during the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

The term warlord is applied to the commanders of the Afghan resistance who fell out with each other after the defeat of the Soviets. They see themselves as political figures and patriots who defend their people in areas of the country where the central government has little or no control. They often refer to themselves as “mujahadeen,” which means holy warriors.

Mr. Karzai sought support from those branded as warlords to bolster his weak power base, win re-election and build alliances with ethnic groups. He has defended those ties publicly, pointing out that the U.S. backed the same people eight years ago when it engineered the war to oust the Taliban and brought Mr. Karzai to power.

But the U.S. and its allies fear that the continued strength of the warlords undermines government authority. It is hard to convince ordinary Afghans to obey the laws, pay their taxes and support the government when it is dominated by men who flouted the rules to amass power and fortunes.

International pressure is mounting on Mr. Karzai to rid his government of corruption and sideline the warlords. Leaders of the U.S., Britain and other troop-contributing countries find themselves in the uncomfortable position of having soldiers to risk their lives for a corrupt government.

Earlier this month, Kai Eide, the U.N. mission chief in Afghanistan, suggested time was running out. “We can’t afford any longer a situation where warlords and power brokers play their own games,” he said. “We have to have … significant reform.”

About the same time, President Obama told Mr. Karzai that assurances of reform had to be backed up with action.

This week, U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry was present at a Kabul hotel when Afghan officials announced they had created a new unit to fight graft, called the Anti-Corruption Unit and Major Crime Force.

Mr. Eikenberry’s reaction: “Words are cheap. Deeds are required.”

Presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada has defended Mr. Karzai’s vice presidents and other choices, saying he has appointed to government posts Afghans from all walks of life and from all political backgrounds. He said “the path of inclusivity” was crucial for stability.

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