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LONDON: Britain and the United States are secretly distributing huge sums of money to persuade Afghan warlords not to rebel against their country's new government. The Observer has learnt that 'bin bags' full of US dollars have been flown into Afghanistan, sometimes on RAF planes, to be given to key regional power brokers who could cause trouble for President Hamid Karzai's administration. Gul Agha Sherzai, the governor of the southern province of Kandahar, Hazrat Ali, a commander in the eastern province of Nangahar, and several others have been 'bought off' with millions of dollars in deals brokered by US and British intelligence. Many of the commanders benefiting from the operation have been involved in opium production, drug smuggling on a massive scale and widespread human rights abuses. Without the hand-outs, Western intelligence agencies fear Afghanistan could collapse into anarchy, allowing Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda group and former Taliban elements to regroup. UK Foreign Office sources in London confirmed last week they were aware money was being 'circulated' to key Afghan warlords to persuade them to support the government. "It is certainly true that money has been distributed - it is the way things work in this part of the world - but no British money (is being distributed)," the source said. "In any case, you do not buy warlords in Afghanistan: you 'rent' them for a period. The Russians discovered this to their cost. They would buy off a warlord and after a while he would come back and tell them: 'My men won't wear this arrangement any more. You will have to give me more money, or we will have to go back to attacking you'." However, The Observer has been told by reliable sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan that some UK money is being distributed, although most of it is American. Relief workers in Afghanistan have criticized the hand-outs because they come when funds for emergency help and reconstruction projects in the war-damaged country are runnin |
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Cash for roadbuilding, irrigation and power projects is unlikely even to reach Afghanistan before 2003, and only $4.5 billion of the estimated $15 billion needed to rebuild the nation has so far been pledged. Previous attempts to buy the loyalty of warlords have met mixed results. During the battle of Tora Bora in April, local commanders were paid huge sums to send their own troops into the mountainous cave complexes where Osama bin Laden was thought to be hiding. The warlords involved in this operation, including Hazrat Ali, accuse each other of taking bribes from Osama to allow him to escape. In Paktia province, the Americans paid Pacha Khan Zardran, a local commander who seized control of the eastern city of Khost last November, an estimated $400,000 to train and equip fighters to patrol the border with Pakistan. Since then, however, the government in Kabul has installed its own governor and forced Khan into the mountains, from where his troops have been shelling civilian areas in a bid to destabilise the new regime. "You are playing with fire and pandering to the worst elements in Afghan culture and society," said one Pakistan-based Western diplomat. "Afghanistan would be better served by expanding peacekeeping forces or more aid for ordinary people." Many Afghans in Khost blame the rising tension on the US. Paying the warlords for their services has triggered clashes among groups eager to win patronage from the Americans. In some areas commanders have been told they will receive a top-of-the-range $40,000 pick-up truck - a local status symbol - if they can prove they have killed Taliban or Al Qaeda elements.-Dawn/The Observer News Service. |
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