- guardian.co.uk, Sunday March 3 2002 00.30 GMT
Soldiers loyal to the Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum seized control of the town of Shulgara, 50 miles south of Mazar-e-Sharif, on Friday. They drove tanks into the town, forcing out Tajik troops loyal to Atta Mohamed, a leading Northern Alliance commander, just days after the two sides signed a peace agreement in Khulm, east of Mazar.
The skirmishes, which have claimed dozens of lives over the past three months, represent the largest obstacle to peace in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
Publicly, Uzbek and Tajik leaders say the two sides are willing to work together in the reconstruction of their country. Dostum is Deputy Defence Minister in the interim government in Kabul, while most senior posts are held by Tajik commanders close to Mohamed. United States special forces are working closely with each commander in an effort to curb personal rivalries.
But privately United Nations sources fear that an escalation of violence could lead to bloody fighting in Mazar.
In a frank interview with The Observer, Fida Mohamed Yaqin, brother of Atta Mohamed and the city's police chief, said Dostum's Uzbek forces would be 'eliminated'.
'They have looted houses and committed serious offences against the people. They have done nothing for the country,' said Yaqin, sitting behind the desk of his damp, dilapidated office in military uniform and sunglasses.
'In a few years they will be eliminated. We will disarm all of them. They are not the people to bring peace here. Their foundations are not good.'
Since the Taliban fell from power, Dostum has struggled to reassert himself in an area which he once ran as his fiefdom, printing his own currency and operating his own airline. In a setback for the warlord, it was Tajik troops under Atta Mohamed who reached Mazar first after the Taliban's retreat.
In an attempt to iron out the differences, a unified police force made up of men from the three ethnic groups has been established in Mazar. Now 600 police officers patrol the city, but attempts to disarm the factions have met with limited success.
The fact that the force is dominated by Tajiks has angered Dostum's Uzbek troops. One Tajik policeman was shot by a soldier from Dostum's party after the force was set up.
Dostum's soldiers occupy a large barracks on the western side of the city, where a dozen well-maintained Soviet tanks are ostentatiously lined up.
In addition, police say there are at least two groups of heavily armed Shia Hazaras who have up to 500 men in several districts of Mazar. These men have been looting and kidnapping with impunity since the Taliban fled the city in early November.
'They were trained in Iran and now they are in our city,' said Abdul Aziz Akizada, the deputy police chief. 'They are very cruel, especially towards Sunni Muslims. But in time they will be disarmed.'
Western aid agencies have been the target of several kidnapping attempts. An Afghan working for the British aid agency Focus was kidnapped last month. Another Afghan worker at Unicef was shot four times after an attempted kidnapping. Hazaras are suspected in both cases.
In several areas, commanders have tried but failed to disarm local people. 'They have started burying their arms - and we are talking about major weapons; hundreds of rifles or machine guns,' the UN official said.
'You want to see more than just cosmetic changes to this country. This is a unique opportunity to finally have a spirit of conciliation.'
Despite last week's agreement in Khulm, which ended several days of fighting, it is not clear that troops have been completely disarmed. Soldiers loyal to Dostum were forced out of the city, and sources say Tajik commanders in Khulm still have access to their troops' weapons. 'It was a compromise, and now our troops have left the town. But in the future they will be sent back there,' said Mira Adil Shah, Dostum's deputy in Mazar.
Several Afghan leaders, particularly in Kabul, have been calling for an expansion of the international security force and the deployment of foreign troops in cities outside the capital.
It is clear, however, that commanders on the ground are reluctant to cede power to a foreign force. 'If these things are not addressed now, we are not addressing the root cause of the problem,' the UN official said. Meanwhile, Afghan troops and US bombers yesterday attacked hundreds of die-hard al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters holed up in mountains in east Afghanistan, but soldiers involved said the offensive was beaten off.
The battle took place in Paktia province where the Pentagon says intelligence reports show pockets of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and followers of deposed Taliban leader Mullah Omar are seeking to regroup.
