Karzai challenges world view that Afghanistan is ethnically divided

Sunday, November 10th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ The Afghan president, in the midst of a risky campaign to whittle away at the power of regional warlords, protested Sunday against portrayals of his country as one that is riven along ethnic lines _ with Tajiks pitted against Pashtuns.

``It's just not true. We are a nation, a united nation. There are individuals perhaps, but believe me as a nation we are one,'' Hamid Karzai said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.

With a notebook in hand, Karzai carefully and thoughtfully ran through a roster of his government ministers. One by one he ticked them off the list, noting they represented every ethnic group, and most in fact belonged to Afghanistan's majority Pashtun ethnic group. Pashtuns often are portrayed as under attack by the mostly Tajik forces who ousted the predominantly Pashtun and hardline Taliban late last year.

``It is completely unfair that the international media is always writing about Tajiks and Pashtuns, one against the other. I know my people, my country, and this is just unfair and is a wrong portrayal of Afghanistan,'' Karzai said.

``I am meeting people always, and I know that Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara they are not against each other. There may be individuals who are a problem, but we are one nation.''

While Karzai's Cabinet blends the country's varied ethnic groups, the powerful defense ministry and the army is led by Mohammed Fahim, an ethnic Tajik and is dominated by his loyalists, most of whom are also Tajik.

Fahim has been accused of trying to sabotage efforts to build a national army that would include men from every ethnic group, fearing such an army would erode his power. In a country that has been at war for the last 23 years, power is often defined by men and munitions. So far Fahim has reportedly refused to give up the weapons he has stockpiled in the Panjshir Valley, northeast of Kabul. He also has been reluctant to pay or arm newly trained soldiers of the national army.

In an attempt to assert his government's control outside the capital of Kabul, Karzai has begun a campaign to weaken the control of powerful warlords who rule much of Afghanistan. The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch last week, for example, called western Herat's Ismail Khan an ``enemy'' of human rights, who rules through repression, intimidation and torture.

In a bold move that some fear could be dangerous for him, Karzai fired several generals, intelligence officials and local commanders in an attempt to take back control from regional warlords.

His sweep targeted every region of Afghanistan and came as a result of a survey by his personal envoys, who had crisscrossed the country to hear firsthand from ordinary Afghans which men and armies were causing problems.

``People told us: 'we don't care who is Tajik, who is Pashtun, who is Hazara. We just want people who are honest, who won't steal from us,''' Karzai said.

In a move designed to further embrace all ethnic groups, Karzai has begun to appoint governors representing one ethnic group to a province dominated by another ethnic group.

``And people liked that,'' he said.

Karzai said survival not ethnicity preoccupies ordinary Afghans.

``The problems in my country are unemployment, reconstruction. They are economic, not ethnic,'' he said, sipping green tea as he sat in his office in the ornate presidential palace.

Karzai complained that promised aide and development money was not reaching his poor country's 21 million people, struggling to emerge from 23 years of war.

Money has come to Afghanistan but so far it has not reached the people, he said. According to United Nations figures more than half of the $1.8 billion pledged for this year has been delivered.

But analysts and economists in the Afghan capital said much of the money has been used to finance offices of international aid organizations and the multitude of United Nations offices. In the year since the ouster of the Taliban, nearly 2,000 foreign aid workers have converged on the Afghan capital. The accompanying expense has been in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

``It isn't humanitarian aid alone that we need. We need development aid,'' said Karzai. ``This is what I am saying to everyone, help us rebuild our country. This is what we want, to move forward, for the people of Afghanistan to move forward.''