Militia fighters began withdrawing from frontlines near Afghanistan's main northern city yesterday, witnesses said, after rival warlords agreed to a ceasefire in heavy fighting which has claimed 80 casualties.
An uneasy calm settled over Mazar-i-Sharif, 310km north of Kabul, the morning after Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali and British Ambassador Ron Nash struck a deal between warring strongmen Atta Mohammad and Abdul Rashid Dostam.
Mohammad's mostly Tajik Jamiat faction and Dostam's mainly Uzbek Junbish faction both profess loyalty to President Hamid Karzai, but are rivals for control of the north.
The latest clashes, among the worst in six months, erupted Wednesday on the main road west of Mazar-i-Sharif towards Shibergan, Dostam's stronghold 120km away.
Both sides used tanks and mortars in "very intense" fighting, a UN spokesman said, and by Thursday the clashes had moved to within 20km of the city.
Mohammad's side reported 70 dead and injured fighters among its forces, while Dostam's side reported three dead and six wounded. The casualty tolls could not be independently confirmed.
Hundreds of fighters were preparing to pull back from the frontlines early yesterday, witnesses said.
Commanders of both sides were preparing to meet in the city's UN offices.
Under a ceasefire hammered out by Jalali and the British envoy late Thursday, each side was given 24 hours to pull their troops back.
"In one day all soldiers must withdraw from the frontlines and maintain a distance of 40km-50km between them," Jalali told reporters.
The minister also announced plans to dispatch 300 police from the capital Kabul to secure Mazar-i-Sharif, where local police have been accused of taking sides.
The ceasefire deal also foreshadows the establishment of a commission to probe the cause of the conflict and oversee the retreat by warring forces.
The commission will be made up of officials from both factions, the UN and the British-run civil-military team helping with rebuilding and security in Mazar-i-Sharif.
Mohammad and Dostam, a former communist general who is now deputy defense minister, have been vying for control of northern Afghanistan along with a third ethnic militia, the Hazaras' Hezb-i Wahdat.
Dozens of people have been killed this year in factional clashes in the north.
Militiamen such as those loyal to Dostam and Mohammad are the targets of an ambitious disarmament drive due to start later this month.
The Karzai government is aiming to disarm 100,000 militiamen.
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