![[Afghanistan] Gunmen in the troubled Sholgara district of in the northern city of Mazar.](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/200382113.jpg.webp?itok=KJ-dWbIM "Men with guns - the government estimates there are around 100,000 of them - one of Afghanistan's greatest security challenges")
The United Nations has expressed grave concern at fierce fighting this week between two regional warlords, which left at least 32 people dead in the western province of Herat. The world body also called for an improvement in the ongoing nationwide disarmament programme.
The violence - that also left more than 100 people, mainly civilians, injured – happened last Sunday when armed groups belonging to two rival militia commanders, Amanullah Nikzad and Arbab Basir, clashed in the Shindand district of Herat province.
The incident was purportedly sparked by a blood feud. Mohammad Nasim held commander Amanullah Nikzad responsible for the killing of his father Arbab Basir, who was murdered in the same district earlier in October, along with three others.
“While it is a matter of great concern that so many people have died as a result of recent fighting in western Herat, we are relieved that peace now seems to have prevailed,” Aleem Siddique, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)’s spokesman, told IRIN in Kabul on Thursday.
“This highlights the need for us all, and especially local communities, to recommit to the disarmament programme if we are to cement peace and stability for all of Afghanistan's peoples,” Siddique added.
A ceasefire between the two armed militias was imposed in the area following the intervention of a government-appointed delegation and deployment of several hundred police and soldiers, officials said.
This conflict and several others this year between regional warlords in the northern Faryab province and some other parts of the country, have raised questions about the success of the two UN-backed disarmament programmes which seek to turn the country’s gunmen into peaceful, law-abiding citizens.
In August, police in Faryab said 14 people, including four civilians, died in a week of fighting in the Kot district. The clash involved close to 300 militia members loyal to rival commanders Abdul Rahman Shamal and Khalifa Saleh.
“The [disarmament] programmes have failed even to disarm many of the warlords here in the capital Kabul,” said local analyst Habibullah Rafi.
More than 60,000 former combatants have been disarmed under the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme. That process took almost 20 months and cost more than US $150 million to complete by June 2005. Following the DDR, the government, with UN support, is focusing on the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) initiative.
Officials from Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) - a UN project which supports the DIAG - admit that there are challenges in disarming warlords militia commanders, but point to government’s weak implementation of the programme.
“Certainly, there are shortcomings in the [DIAG] process, but it is completely a governmental programme while we are only supporting them, so it is mainly the duty of the interior ministry to implement the programme effectively and properly,” Ahmad Jan Nawzadi, an ANBP public information officer, said.
Analysts say many of the regional warlords who still hold stocks of weapons, are linked to high ranking government officials and members of parliament.
“Warlords are still using their weapons as a means to apply pressure to gain more power in the government,” Rafi remarked.
As of 10 October 2006, 26,025 weapons and more than three quarters of a million rounds of ammunition have been handed over to ANBP collection teams. But DIAG officials estimate that there are still some 1,800 illegal armed groups countrywide.
The government said disarmament would take time. “Undoubtedly, there are problems on this front but collecting all the weapons in the country, which has suffered decades of war, is simply not possible in overnight and will take more time, given how small our security forces are,” Zmarai Bashari, a spokesman for the interior ministry, told IRIN in Kabul.
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The violence - that also left more than 100 people, mainly civilians, injured – happened last Sunday when armed groups belonging to two rival militia commanders, Amanullah Nikzad and Arbab Basir, clashed in the Shindand district of Herat province.
The incident was purportedly sparked by a blood feud. Mohammad Nasim held commander Amanullah Nikzad responsible for the killing of his father Arbab Basir, who was murdered in the same district earlier in October, along with three others.
“While it is a matter of great concern that so many people have died as a result of recent fighting in western Herat, we are relieved that peace now seems to have prevailed,” Aleem Siddique, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)’s spokesman, told IRIN in Kabul on Thursday.
“This highlights the need for us all, and especially local communities, to recommit to the disarmament programme if we are to cement peace and stability for all of Afghanistan's peoples,” Siddique added.
A ceasefire between the two armed militias was imposed in the area following the intervention of a government-appointed delegation and deployment of several hundred police and soldiers, officials said.
This conflict and several others this year between regional warlords in the northern Faryab province and some other parts of the country, have raised questions about the success of the two UN-backed disarmament programmes which seek to turn the country’s gunmen into peaceful, law-abiding citizens.
In August, police in Faryab said 14 people, including four civilians, died in a week of fighting in the Kot district. The clash involved close to 300 militia members loyal to rival commanders Abdul Rahman Shamal and Khalifa Saleh.
“The [disarmament] programmes have failed even to disarm many of the warlords here in the capital Kabul,” said local analyst Habibullah Rafi.
More than 60,000 former combatants have been disarmed under the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme. That process took almost 20 months and cost more than US $150 million to complete by June 2005. Following the DDR, the government, with UN support, is focusing on the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) initiative.
Officials from Afghanistan’s New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) - a UN project which supports the DIAG - admit that there are challenges in disarming warlords militia commanders, but point to government’s weak implementation of the programme.
“Certainly, there are shortcomings in the [DIAG] process, but it is completely a governmental programme while we are only supporting them, so it is mainly the duty of the interior ministry to implement the programme effectively and properly,” Ahmad Jan Nawzadi, an ANBP public information officer, said.
Analysts say many of the regional warlords who still hold stocks of weapons, are linked to high ranking government officials and members of parliament.
“Warlords are still using their weapons as a means to apply pressure to gain more power in the government,” Rafi remarked.
As of 10 October 2006, 26,025 weapons and more than three quarters of a million rounds of ammunition have been handed over to ANBP collection teams. But DIAG officials estimate that there are still some 1,800 illegal armed groups countrywide.
The government said disarmament would take time. “Undoubtedly, there are problems on this front but collecting all the weapons in the country, which has suffered decades of war, is simply not possible in overnight and will take more time, given how small our security forces are,” Zmarai Bashari, a spokesman for the interior ministry, told IRIN in Kabul.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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