Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai, his authority in question outside Kabul, returned home yesterday to confront mounting instability after factional fighting escalated during his week-long absence.
While Karzai was in the US and Britain appealing for more international troops to secure Afghanistan, his appointed governor in eastern Paktia province was routed in a battle with a rival warlord.
Tense armed standoffs also reportedly continued in the far north between ethnic factions in the government, particularly troops loyal to Deputy Defense Minister Abdul Rashid Dostam, an Uzbek, and Defense Minister Qasim Fahim, a Tajik.
But the worst fighting occurred in the Paktia capital Gardez, where Karzai's handpicked governor Padsha Khan tried to take up his post through force after rival Pashtun tribal leader Saif Ullah refused to hand over power.
Some 50 people, including about 20 civilians, were killed in two days of mortar, rocket and machinegun fire between the two forces, which saw Khan's troops retreat from the town late Thursday.
Karzai, who returned home before dawn, immediately summoned Border Affairs Minister Amanullah Zadran for a briefing on the situation at Gardez, a government source said.
"They are meeting to try work out solutions. The process may take a day or two," he said, adding the defeat of Padsha Khan was "humiliating" for Karzai.
"It shows that his power barely extends beyond Kabul. How he deals with the problem will determine whether he will in future be known as the leader of Afghanistan or only of Kabul," the source said.
The fighting underscored Karzai's appeals for more international troops to stabilize his devastated country as it tries to recover from 23 years of war.
In Gardez, a meeting of the local shura, or council of local chiefs, Friday rejected Khan as governor and called for the UN and the interim government to send a delegation to the town to assess the situation.
In one positive sign for Afghanistan yesterday, weather officials were hopeful heavy falls of snow had broken a crippling three-year drought.
"From what information we have, it seems we have had much more snow this year than in the past three years. We are hopeful that the drought has been broken," meteorologist Ahmadi Mugtaba said.
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