Afghan northern alliance linked to gunfire aimed at international peacekeepers

Monday, April 1st 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ Disgruntled northern alliance soldiers were blamed Monday for two recent shootings that targeted international peacekeepers, and a spokesman for the security force said troops would significantly increase their presence in a lawless part of the capital.

A convoy of British soldiers was fired on Saturday evening by two men as the troops made their way along a dirt path toward an observation post in western Kabul, and an armored patrol of German peacekeepers were fired on Friday from a northern alliance compound in another part of the city. No one was hurt in either incident.

The northern alliance, dominated by ethnic minorities from the north of the country, fought the Taliban with little success until President Bush ordered military operations against the ruling militia last fall in wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

With American backing, including punishing airstrikes, the alliance swept the Taliban from Kabul and other major cities. Key alliance figures have opposed any expansion of the peacekeeping force to outside Kabul and have made clear they expect the international troops to go home as soon as possible.

Though attacks on the peacekeepers have been rare since the force was established by the U.N. Security Council late last year, the shootings highlight the continued difficulties peacekeepers face in controlling a city that has known mostly war.

Flight Lt. Tony Marshall, British spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, said an investigation suggested that northern alliance soldiers had been coming into the area in western Kabul where the British soldiers were attacked.

He said the men were believed responsible for robberies and other crimes over the past seven to 10 days. Gunmen killed two people in the area last week after trying to abduct a young girl.

``There is some suggestion that they are northern alliance soldiers stationed on the outskirts of the town and that possibly the reason why they are coming in and doing these things is that they are not being paid,'' Marshall said. ``They are not being fed and they are not being clothed.''

It was not clear if the assailants' aim was to target the peacekeepers or if the security convoys had just happened upon the men as they were committing crimes. Marshall said peacekeepers and local police would ``swamp'' the area with patrols in coming days to try to crack down on crime.

The neighborhood is among the most severely destroyed in the capital, with street after street of bombed-out mud and brick piles where buildings once stood.

Britain has been the lead element of the 18-nation, 4,500-member peacekeeping force since its inception, a role it hopes to hand over to Turkey by the end of April. The Turkish military said it would send a military delegation to Afghanistan on Wednesday, a signal it is moving closer to accepting the mandate after lengthy negotiations with both the United States and Britain.

``The Turkish government has accepted in principle to take over the command of the international peace force as a result of long meetings and assessments,'' the Turkish military statement said.

Meanwhile, a visiting U.S. senator on Monday endorsed expanding the peacekeeping force, which currently provides security only in Kabul, the capital.

``I was very reluctant before visiting Afghanistan, and now I feel there's no choice but to expand,'' Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, D-N.J., told The Associated Press. The Afghan leadership has urged the United Nations to at least double the size of the force and expand its mandate to other cities, where many Afghans fear lawlessness or violence between armed factions in the absence of a national police force and army.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also favors broadening the mandate geographically. But the Bush administration and several members of the 18-nation peacekeeping contingent have opposed its expansion.

Torricelli, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also said he expects U.S. military forces to remain in this country for several years because it will take a long time to build a national Afghan army.

``There's no choice but to remain several years to ensure against the return of the Taliban,'' Torricelli said.

He and Sen. Jon Corzine, also a New Jersey Democrat, paid a one-day visit to Afghanistan to assess military and economic assistance needs in the wake of the U.S.-led war last fall that toppled the Taliban government. They met with interim leader Hamid Karzai and other Afghan officials.