Ahead of Afghanistan polls, tribal strifes tear Kandahar
30 March 2014 4:37 AM IST
The fate of Kandahar, birthplace of the Taliban insurgency, is crucial. Some Afghans fear a loss in the vote for Zalmai Rassoul, a candidate close to President Hamid Karzai, could push Kandahar’s powerful Pashtun tribes into rejecting rule from Kabul, some 500 km away. Others fear the same outcome if he wins. Such a revolt would have the potential to split the rugged nation of 30 million people, already divided by fierce loyalties beyond the Pashtuns among such tribes as the Tajiks, Uzbeks and others.
The two presidential frontrunners from Kandahar are Rassoul, backed by Karzai’s brothers, and Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank official. Both are Pashtuns. ‘If Kandahar is peaceful, Afghanistan is peaceful,’ provincial governor Tooryalai Wesa said. ‘The key of Afghanistan is here. The history and politics of Afghanistan have always belonged to Kandahar.’
The violence in Kandahar comes despite the governor doubling the size of the provincial army, driving the Taliban to the edge of the region. But now the militant group, which has vowed to disrupt the 5 April vote and return to power, is once again gaining momentum. Just last Friday it killed the Kandahar governor’s chief of staff and wounded the deputy governor in a bombing.
That blast followed an earlier attack by suicide bombers targeting an intelligence agency building.
Tribal leaders in Kandahar say the Taliban insurgency has been galvanised by Karzai’s 12 years in office because of his family’s growing wealth and power, which have fuelled rivalry between regional elites. Karzai is from the powerful Pashtun Popalzai tribe, Ghani from the Ahmedzai tribe.
‘People in Kandahar are tired of exclusive rule by the president’s brothers, while other tribes have been suppressed by the Popalzai tribe,’ said Haji Ehsaan, an elder of another Pashtun tribe, the Noorzai. With Karzai legally barred from a third term, many Afghans see his family’s public backing of Rassoul, a former foreign minister, as a move to tighten its grip on Kandahar.
All nine presidential candidates are Pashtun except Abdullah Abdullah, a frontrunner along with Rassoul and Ghani, who has a Pashtun father and a Tajik mother and is famous for his closeness to assassinated Tajik militia leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. A successful vote in April would mark Afghanistan’s first democratic transfer of power and signal prospects for stability after most foreign troops withdraw at the end of the year.
But only a win for Rassoul would ensure this stability, his supporters said. ‘He is a Pashtun from Kandahar and has the support of the Karzais,’ said the chief of the Kandahar provincial council, Haji Sayed January ‘If someone other than Rassoul wins, the people of Kandahar will not accept that and tribal tensions will grow.’
FAMILY ISSUES
Karzai’s half-brother, Shah Wali, is the leader of the Popalzai tribe, and the businesses of the president’s brothers, Mehmood and Qayum, have flourished during his tenure. The two men said they planned to fight the Taliban’s growing influence in Kandahar by fighting economic deprivation, stiffening the justice system and rooting out corruption.
‘I am passionate about what we believe to be the problems of the Afghan people,’ said Mehmood, whose brother, Qayum, withdrew from the presidential election to support Rassoul. But even in Karzai’s family there are cracks.
The two presidential frontrunners from Kandahar are Rassoul, backed by Karzai’s brothers, and Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank official. Both are Pashtuns. ‘If Kandahar is peaceful, Afghanistan is peaceful,’ provincial governor Tooryalai Wesa said. ‘The key of Afghanistan is here. The history and politics of Afghanistan have always belonged to Kandahar.’
The violence in Kandahar comes despite the governor doubling the size of the provincial army, driving the Taliban to the edge of the region. But now the militant group, which has vowed to disrupt the 5 April vote and return to power, is once again gaining momentum. Just last Friday it killed the Kandahar governor’s chief of staff and wounded the deputy governor in a bombing.
That blast followed an earlier attack by suicide bombers targeting an intelligence agency building.
Tribal leaders in Kandahar say the Taliban insurgency has been galvanised by Karzai’s 12 years in office because of his family’s growing wealth and power, which have fuelled rivalry between regional elites. Karzai is from the powerful Pashtun Popalzai tribe, Ghani from the Ahmedzai tribe.
‘People in Kandahar are tired of exclusive rule by the president’s brothers, while other tribes have been suppressed by the Popalzai tribe,’ said Haji Ehsaan, an elder of another Pashtun tribe, the Noorzai. With Karzai legally barred from a third term, many Afghans see his family’s public backing of Rassoul, a former foreign minister, as a move to tighten its grip on Kandahar.
All nine presidential candidates are Pashtun except Abdullah Abdullah, a frontrunner along with Rassoul and Ghani, who has a Pashtun father and a Tajik mother and is famous for his closeness to assassinated Tajik militia leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. A successful vote in April would mark Afghanistan’s first democratic transfer of power and signal prospects for stability after most foreign troops withdraw at the end of the year.
But only a win for Rassoul would ensure this stability, his supporters said. ‘He is a Pashtun from Kandahar and has the support of the Karzais,’ said the chief of the Kandahar provincial council, Haji Sayed January ‘If someone other than Rassoul wins, the people of Kandahar will not accept that and tribal tensions will grow.’
FAMILY ISSUES
Karzai’s half-brother, Shah Wali, is the leader of the Popalzai tribe, and the businesses of the president’s brothers, Mehmood and Qayum, have flourished during his tenure. The two men said they planned to fight the Taliban’s growing influence in Kandahar by fighting economic deprivation, stiffening the justice system and rooting out corruption.
‘I am passionate about what we believe to be the problems of the Afghan people,’ said Mehmood, whose brother, Qayum, withdrew from the presidential election to support Rassoul. But even in Karzai’s family there are cracks.
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