Afghanistan's Turf Wars

By Text by Nadia Mustafa

HERAT A hero of the anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance, Tajik ISMAIL KHAN, loyal to the Jamiat party, is Afghanistan's most powerful warlord, commanding 15,000 men, the country's largest semiautonomous force.

MAZAR-I-SHARIF The country's most celebrated warlord, Uzbek ABDUL RASHID DOSTUM has long been a strongman in the north. Though he still commands some 7,000 troops, lately his influence has been eroded by the rising power of Tajik USTAD ATTA MOHAMMED, whose force of 5,000 controls much of Mazar. Sporadic clashes between the rival factions have been temporarily defused.

KABUL The battles roiling again among regional warlords have been a headache for interim President HAMID KARZAI. A Pashtun, Karzai has endured political sniping from those left out of the government. Former President BURHANUDDIN RABBANI, a Tajik, does not command forces but has scattered support. So does former Premier GULBUDDIN HEKMATYAR, a Pashtun. In early May, the CIA tried to assassinate Hekmatyar--whom it considers a dangerous enemy of Karzai as well as of the U.S.--but he escaped the missile attack, which killed several supporters.

JALALABAD The dominant power in the east is former mujahedin commander HAJI ABDUL QADIR, a Pashtun and brother of Abdul Haq, the resistance hero executed by the Taliban last October. As governor of Nangarhar province, Qadir, who has about 2,000 troops, controls the road connecting Kabul and Pakistan.

PAKTIKA One of a long line of Pashtun tribal chiefs who have regarded Kabul's writ with indifference, PACHA KHAN ZADRAN is fighting Karzai's appointees to the governorships of Paktika and neighboring Khost. U.S. officers believe Zadran, who retains links with al-Qaeda and Taliban elements, may pose a danger to U.S. forces.

BAMIYAN With about 10,000 troops at his command, Hazara Shi'ite KARIM KHALILI holds sway over Bamiyan province, which has a Hazara majority. Unlike other leading warlords, he has little in the way of armor or heavy weapons. His prospects are limited in Afghanistan, whose population is predominantly Sunni.

KANDAHAR Pashtun GUL AGHA SHERZAI commands a small fiefdom in the south. With 1,500 men, he controls trade with Pakistan through the border settlement Spin Boldak. Sherzai is a U.S. ally, but he maintains ties with nearby tribes, some of which are pro-Taliban.

Note: Exact boundaries and status of some recently designated provinces, including Nuristan (ca. 1991) and Khowst (ca. 1995), remain unclear. Several provincial capitals were changed during the mid-1990s.

Sources: United Nations, CIA World Factbook, Utrecht University, East View Catographic, National Geographic, Nelles Maps