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US envoy to Kabul warns of divisions in govt

KABUL: The US ambassador to Kabul warned on Tuesday of tension between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and ethnic minority factions in his government who say they will challenge the frontrunner in October elections.

He referred to “hurt feelings”, “injured pride” and a “decrease in trust” among members of the Northern Alliance movement, possibly caused by Karzai’s decision to exclude key alliance figures from his list of running mates. Any tensions would underline the on-again off-again rivalry between Karzai, his US backers and reformers from his largest Pashtun ethnic group on the one hand and minority Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara leaders who oppose many of his policies on the other.

By upsetting his rivals, Karzai may end up helping a traditionally fractious alliance movement to unite behind a single candidate and pose the election favourite more problems than he bargained for. Karzai is keen to avoid the election being fought along ethnic lines in the volatile Central Asian state, but his opponents have accused him of favouring Pashtuns over smaller ethnic groups by seeking to disarm Tajik and Uzbek militias.

“I do understand that there are some hurt feelings, but the interests of the nation must be put above personal feelings,” Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told a news briefing.

Two key players in the October 9 presidential poll could be outgoing education minister Yunus Qanuni, who announced his candidacy on Monday, and Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, originally tipped to be Karzai’s main running mate.

The two ethnic Tajiks entered Kabul in triumph late in 2001 after the Northern Alliance routed the Taliban, but since then Karzai has gradually eroded the powers of their grouping in favour of his fellow Pashtuns as well as technocrats. Some analysts supported the policy, saying too many key ministries were in the hands of minorities, alienating the all-important Pashtuns of the south and east.

Qanuni threatened to resign two years ago when he was demoted from the interior to education ministry. On Monday he stepped down to qualify to run in the election.

He could win support from Fahim, who may be smarting after being left off Karzai’s election ticket despite heading the defence ministry and being Karzai’s current first vice president.

Khalilzad said he was not referring to individuals, but his comments indicated a rift that has widened this week with Qanuni’s decision. Khalilzad hinted that Karzai and Qanuni may yet strike a deal under which the latter would withdraw his candidacy.

The government had more than two months to run before the vote, and the two sides must maintain dialogue, he explained. “We will do what we can to encourage a dialogue about the process, the injured feelings,” he said.

“Elections are on October 9. People have responsibilities until that time. Mr Qanuni has resigned but others are in the government still.”

Karzai said recently that powerful militia commanders, mainly from the Northern Alliance, who opposed his nationwide drive to disarm them, posed more of a danger to Afghan stability than Islamic militants bent on disrupting the election process.

Those comments came weeks after he held talks with some of the same alliance leaders over sharing power.

Instead of Fahim, Karzai chose Ahmad Zia Masood as his candidate for first vice president. While not a prominent Afghan personality, he is brother of assassinated Tajik commander Ahmad Shah Masood, seen by many as a hero who fought the Soviets and then the Taliban. reuters

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