afghanistan
The cabinet itself was dominated by Jami‘at and the Northern Alliance.
The real power behind the throne was Marshal Fahim, Minister of Defence,
and his Panjshiri militia. Karzai tried to offset his power by appointing
members of his own extended family to key positions, as well as a number
of former officials who had served during the reign of King Zahir Shah,
many of whom had spent the last thirty years or more in exile in the usa
and European countries. The un disarmament programme, implemented
shortly after the new government took power, was useful for both Karzai
and Fahim since it provided an opportunity to weaken potential rivals,
in particular General Dostam. In return for handing over some weapons,
mostly old or out of service, commanders were compensated with govern-
ment positions, tacit immunity from prosecution for human rights abuses,
and the opportunity to enrich themselves from the influx of billions of
dollars of foreign aid.
In 2003 Karzai acted against the two greatest threats to his own and
Fahim’s power. Isma‘il Khan in Herat was popular but paid no revenues to
the central government and used the tax and customs revenues to benefit
his own region. This situation was unacceptable since the central govern-
ment was almost entirely reliant on foreign aid. In August Karzai dismissed
Isma‘il Khan as commander of the 4th Army Corps and replaced him with
a Pushtun monarchist. A few months later Karzai responded to fighting
between Isma‘il Khan and rival commanders by airlifting in a thousand
u.s.-trained troops of the Afghan National Army (ana) and hundreds of
police, ostensibly to support Isma‘il Khan. In the spring of the following
year, Karzai dismissed Isma‘il Khan as governor of Herat and appointed
another monarchist who had previously been governor of the province
during the reign of King Zahir Shah. Isma‘il Khan refused to quit, so Karzai
ordered the ana and police units to depose him by force. In the street
battles that followed, dozens of civilians died and United Nations and ngo
offices were looted. When Karzai threatened to send in u.s. forces, Isma‘il
Khan agreed to come to Kabul where he was appointed to the low-ranking
post of Minister of Irrigation and Power.
A few months later, probably in an attempt to appease Fahim follow-
ing the fall of Isma‘il Khan, Karzai appointed ‘Ata Muhammad Nur of
Jami‘at-i Islami as governor of Balkh. Dostam too refused to relinquish
power and Jami‘at and Dostam’s Uzbeks fought each other in the streets
of Mazar-i Sharif. Dostam eventually stepped down, but he was bitter
about what he regarded as an American betrayal. After all, he had been
the most effective opponent of the Taliban, had worked closely with u.s.
Special Forces and played a major role in defeating the Taliban in Northern
nandana
(Nandana)
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