Word: bonneli
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...commandos working with anti-Taliban Pashtun fighters. Besides, he had plenty of other things on his mind. The night before, the soft-spoken Pashtun tribal leader had received word that he had been chosen as Afghanistan's interim Prime Minister by the U.N.-sponsored gathering of Afghan factions in Bonn, Germany. And that afternoon several high-ranking Taliban commanders were driving out to Shahwalikot to lay down conditions for their surrender of Kandahar, the last city in the Taliban's grip...
While the Taliban fled before the handover could take place, Karzai's diplomatic efforts suggest that the faith placed in him by the Bonn conference is well founded. Afghans who think that Afghanistan can be led only by battle-hardened fighters are skeptical of Karzai. But a country devastated by the misrule of warlords could do worse than be guided for a while by someone with the manner and judgment of a civilian. As an elder of the half-million-member Popolzai tribe in southern Afghanistan, he has leadership experience. Karzai's father was also chief tribal leader until July...
Having secured the peaceful fall of Kandahar, Karzai is heading up to the capital, Kabul. "That's where my focus is now," he says. When he formally takes charge there on Dec. 22, he will find his 30-member Cabinet assailed by regional warlords who were elbowed out in Bonn. Top of the list: Uzbek leader Abdul Rashid Dostum, who controls a big chunk of northern Afghanistan and who has already announced that the Uzbeks will boycott Karzai's government. Dostum is angry that the three most important government portfolios--Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs--went to his Tajik rivals...
...Bonn plan calls for Karzai to stay in power for about six months, at which time a loya jirga, or tribal assembly, of 1,500 Afghans will meet to choose a transitional government. That government in turn will last about two years, during which a new constitution will be drawn up. Elections will follow. Until then, the U.N., the U.S. and Pakistan are counting on Karzai to be evenhanded in doling out $600 million in foreign aid and patching up tribal and ethnic grudges. It helps that Karzai knows all the major players, is fluent in all the local dialects...
...succeed, Karzai must first persuade the warlords and defeated Taliban fighters to hand over their guns. The U.N. plans to have peacekeepers begin patrolling Kabul on Dec. 22, when Karzai's temporary government takes over; then they will fan out to other Afghan cities. But in Bonn, the negotiators were in such haste to secure an agreement that they never spelled out who would be empowered to disarm the Afghan combatants. "We need peace and security," Karzai says. "That's our first priority." Everyone, friend and foe alike, will be watching...