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Afghanistan close to anarchy, warns general

· Nato commander's view in stark contrast to ministers'
· Forces short of equipment and 'running out of time'

Richard Norton-Taylor
Saturday July 22, 2006
The Guardian

British soldiers on patrol in Sangin, Helmand province. Photograph: Cpl Rob Knight/MoD/PA

The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan yesterday described the situation in the country as "close to anarchy" with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption.
The stark warning came from Lieutenant General David Richards, head of Nato's international security force in Afghanistan, who warned that western forces there were short of equipment and were "running out of time" if they were going to meet the expectations of the Afghan people.

The assumption within Nato countries had been that the environment in Afghanistan after the defeat of the Taliban in 2002 would be benign, Gen Richards said. "That is clearly not the case," he said yesterday. He referred to disputes between tribes crossing the border with Pakistan, and divisions between religious and secular factions cynically manipulated by "anarcho-warlords".

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the North Western Frontier Province . . is where the more radical of Pakistan's many madrassas, or religious schools, continue to transform the sons of poverty into dedicated warriors for their extreme brand of Islam.

Foremost among them is . . Darul Uloom Haqqania or, as it is known in some quarters, the "jihad factory."

With more than 3,000 students on a campus that occupies eight acres in Akora Khattak about 50 kilometres from Peshawar, Haqqania is very impressive -- as is its high-profile leader, Sami ul-Haq. . . as well as being a maulana, he is a politician -- a member of Pakistan's senate and the leader of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (S) or JUI-S, an Islamist party . .

He is also a good friend of Mullah Muhammad Omar, the one-eyed former Afghan president who gave shelter to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. Mullah Omar is the recipient of the only honorary degree Haqqania has ever granted

A brochure for Darul Aloom Haqqania heralds Sami ul-Haq's fight: "He has constantly struggled against irreligious elements, socialist and communist parties."

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Abdul Salam Zaeef has put pen to paper to tell it. Hundreds of copies of his book, “A Picture of Guantanamo,” have been bought in Kabul bazaars since going on sale this week.

Zaeef, a soft-spoken former Taliban envoy fluent in Arabic and English, was the Taliban’s most visible face during the U.S.-led campaign against the hard-line regime after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

He held daily press conferences at the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, to rail against American attacks on his country.

Zaeef has bared the harsh realities and the subservient nature of Pakistani forces to America. Pakistani forces, the so-called guards of Islam and honour, but the ignoble in the real sense were standing dumb and watching the ceremony in which the former ambassador was handed over to American forces, the book revealed.

Titled as Guantanamo's Picture, the post-bellum book chides the Pakistani army, who were silent spectators and considering the thrashing and tearing clothes of a Muslim brother as a feast to their drowsy eyes.

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"close to anarchy" with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption.

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Originally posted by Wilf Day:

Akora Khattak, by the way, is not in the lawless frontier Tribal Areas west of Peshawar, but on the main road and rail line from Peshawar to Rawalpindi, 52 minutes east of Peshawar by express train, one hour and 20 minutes from Peshawar by local train, quite near the border with the Punjab. A very mainstream location. Scary.[/QB]

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Comparable, perhaps, the School of the Americas? I'm not being entirely facetious.

That is a laugh. Surely the general must be fishing for more goodies to maintain his status as one of the 'upper warlords' ( wishfull thinking).