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Badshah Khan Rejects Karzai's Authority
The powerful Afghan warlord in Khost province Badshah Khan has refused to accept the authority of the new interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai reiterating he will not hand over the territory under his control to the new administration. The new Afghan interim government terms him as a criminal, a characterizations Khan vigorously rejects. He said from Torkhum to Gardez to the border with Pakistan he controls all the roads and on that a hundred-mile stretch of highway his men collect customs duties and tolls. He has installed himself as Governor of Khost province and refuses to accept the central government authority. "Now they promise I would be the Governor of Paktia province and the people want me. So if they send someone else, the war will be intensified, and the central government will be responsible", he warned. Eventually they're going to have to pry this bastard out and hang him. The U.S. has bigger fish to fry at the moment, and Karzai's still building his strength. What Khan Zadran is hoping is that Karzai can't make a go of it, which'll leave him with his little fiefdom where he can emulate Ismail Khan and Abdurrashid Dostum. If Karzai does start building up a credible strength Zadran will have to make some sort of move against him, which could bring the Americans in against him regardless of the number of troops he has "working with" them. I heard on FoxNews over the weekend that Karzai had given up his Afghan bodyguards and replaced them with Americans. He's a prime target for assassination to a number of people, but Zadran will probably be pretty close to the head of the line of those wanting to bump him off. This is another instance where an "unfortunate accident" in Khost could save a lot of trouble elsewhere. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-07-22 |
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