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Zadranâs been jugged - maybe
A renegade Afghan warlord was arrested in a tribal area of Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. However, a spokesman for the warlord, Bacha Khan Zadran, denied the claim, saying his boss had travelled to Pakistan for medical treatment and was not in custody.
| "Nope. Nope. Never happened." |
Zadran, whose forces have sporadically fought the U.S.-backed Afghan government, was arrested about Dec. 1 by Pakistani paramilitary troops guarding the border in an area where local tribesmen often support pro-Taliban militants fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan, said Syed Zaheer-ul Islam, a local administrative official. Zadran was taken into custody along with three other unidentified Afghans at Dirdoni, a border checkpoint 180 kilometres southwest of Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, said Islam. He refused to say why Zadran was arrested, whether he had been charged, why there was a delay in announcing his capture or whether Pakistan was discussing the case with Afghanistan.
| My guess is drunk and disorderly... |
Zadran spokesman Gamay Mohammedi said by satellite phone from eastern Afghanistan on Sunday that the warlord was in Pakistan for medical treatment. "He is in a hospital in Lahore for treatment for his heart," Mohammedi said, adding that he had just spoken with Zadran. The warlord was briefly appointed governor of Afghanistanâs Paktia province in December 2001, but he was removed from the post after local officials, backed by their own militia, refused to allow him to enter the city and take office.
| "Him? You named him as governor? No way in hell!" |
Since then, his forces, which had allied themselves with U.S. troops in past military operations, have repeatedly tried to take small patches of territory in Afghanistan in defiance of the central government in Kabul. Authorities in Kabul say Zadran also had set up numerous checkpoints in Afghanistanâs neighbouring provinces of Paktia and Khost, extorting money from passersby.
Posted by: Dan Darling 2003-12-08 |
