Interview with disarmed combatant

The disarmament of the country’s over 100,000 ex-combatants is considered crucial to its future stabilisation. Observers remain concerned over how successful the UN-backed disarmament demobilisation and reintegration programme (DDR) effort will be, and whether the ex-combatants are genuinely ready to give up their weapons and join civilian life. In an interview with IRIN, Mohammad Ibrahim, an ex-combatant recently disarmed during the first phase of the DDR pilot project initiated in the northeastern city of Konduz, said everyone in his battalion had wanted to be included in the first 1,000 to be disarmed. Ibrahim, also known as Gurg, or wolf, in recognition of his ferocity as a fighter during over two decades of war, said people were tired of the increasing number of weapons continuing to flow into the area, and which had served to whip up local rivalries in his village of Chahar Tut, just outside Konduz. The 35-year-old ex-combatant noted that disarmament was only part of the answer, as many commanders had several hundred weapons stockpiled. Given the ongoing lucrative drug trade now under way, rearming and further conflicts were still very much major concerns. QUESTION: How do you feel as a disarmed fighter taking the first steps towards civilian life? ANSWER: Well, I felt too proud and enthusiastic when I took up the gun as a 14-year-old young fighter against a foreign [Russian] invasion in Afghanistan. That was the beginning of my miseries and years of living in mountains, not to mention moving from one place to another. But today I feel proud in a different way. I'm more proud now and also happy and optimistic about being disarmed and entering a [new] phase in my life. For me, it’s the beginning of a normal life in which I no longer have to go to bed at night worrying whether or not I will be alive the next day. Q: How did your other friends react to the disarmament in Konduz? A: It was jashen [festive] for everyone realising that they would be disarmed and re-employed in civilian life. But unfortunately the programme only addresses 1,000 out of many thousands of armed people in the province. I hope the remaining number can also be included in the programme very soon, because they would create problems if they see others enjoying a new life with new jobs and professions while they are still in an army barracks with no salary and no clear future. In my view, the selection took place without any criteria. Even among armed people we have a lot of people with good economic conditions [prospects] and skills, while there are many others with no income at all, with many of them disabled and unable to do anything. They should have been addressed first. Many of them were not included in this programme. I think that the commanders who were authorised to select the first 1,000 men should have taken this point into consideration. Q: What would you select in civil life to be reintegrated in? A: Well, I would love to learn to write. I was in the eighth grade when I had to leave school. I can read, but cannot write. However, as a profession, I am a farmer and would appreciate if I am provided with some essential means of cultivation like a water pump, fertiliser, seed, etc. This would be enough for supporting my nine-member family. Q: What major changes do you expect out of the DDR effort in Konduz? A: Not only me, but all the people want an end to all those rivalries and armed ambushes and killings which have increased over the last 10 years - at least an end to those thoughts on how to ambush someone or how to escape a probable ambush. We just had a person gunned down in the bazaar of Konduz in front of hundreds of people just a few days before the disarmament started. The people want an end to such rivalries and a new life without worries of guns and fighting. We can manage to change our lives ourselves once we are sure that what we build will not be destroyed again. If this is ensured, we can leave our guns, as we will no longer have concerns about our personal future protection. I would suggest that besides helping the disarmed soldiers, the government should also think [about] how to weaken the commanders, many of whom are directly or indirectly involved in the poppy trade, so as to prevent any future rearming or further conflicts. Q: What has been your biggest loss and biggest achievement, having being a combatant for 21 years? A: The big loss was school. I would have been an engineer if I had continued. As for the biggest achievement, I would say [it] was the defeat of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Of course, there were other losses as well. We left behind all our belongings when we had to leave Konduz and migrated to Pakistan. When we came back our houses were burned down. We still haven't been able to reconstruct them properly. I have lost many things, and don’t own even a bicycle, while unfortunately our commanders own half the [agricultural] lands in this region and have dozens of Buzkashi [a popular game in Afghanistan in which rival horsemen attempt to drag a dead sheep out of a circle] horses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Q: What would you ask of the Afghan government and the international community? A: I hope that our government and the international community take the issue of disarmament very seriously. It should not be viewed or carried out haphazardly, but seen as critical to the country's long-term stability. All aspects of this process should be addressed. The ultimate success of the disarmament effort depends on its future sustainability. There should be a programme to address the roots of future probable factional conflicts.