Why Afghan ex-mujahideen united after US raid

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33416501

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In Kabul's prestigious Shirpour district, a stream of visitors in Land Cruisers are arriving at a newly-built house with their heavily-armed bodyguards.

This is the home of Jan Ahmad, a powerful local leader from Parwan province, north of Kabul, whose personal weapons store was destroyed in a controversial raid by US commandos last week.

The visitors, all veterans of the war against the Soviets in the 1980s, include many members of the government.

They are here to show solidarity with a fellow ex-mujahideen commander in a case that's made headlines in Afghanistan and exposed the deep fault-lines in the country's fragile unity government.

Jan Ahmad greets his guests in a huge reception hall filled with modern furniture. A small man in his fifties, he still wears the traditional Afghan Pakul hat - a symbol of resistance in the Soviet era.

As he tells the story of last Monday's raid on his compound in Parwan, the visitors all raise their hands to thank Allah that he wasn't there when it happened.

"It was 1.15 am when I was told a chopper full of troops had landed close to my house," Jan Ahmad tells the BBC.

"I called on my people to come out onto the street and protest."

Observers say Jan Ahmad's weapons cache was an open secret in Parwan where he's become a powerful figure in local politics.

Unlike many of his fellow ex-mujahideen he didn't join the US-backed government after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Instead he went into business, making a fortune importing and exporting goods from Russia, China and Central Asia.

He claims to have a force of 50,000 men at his disposal, and is also head of the local council in Parwan.

'Furious'

Some have accused him of human rights violations, saying he has a heavy-handed approach to law enforcement.

During last year's presidential election Jan Ahmad was the campaign agent in Parwan for Abdullah Abdullah, the man who eventually became Afghanistan's chief executive.

It was Dr Abdullah who had to intervene and appeal for calm on the morning after the US raid when hundreds of angry supporters of Jan Ahmad spilled out on to the streets of the regional capital Charikar, blocking the main road from Kabul to the north.

The protests made headline news, and many former mujahideen commanders told journalists that the raid was an attack on the honour of all of them.

The situation was deemed serious enough for Dr Abdullah and another senior Afghan power broker, acting Balkh Governor Atta Mohammad Noor, to make the long journey to Parwan to visit Jan Ahmad.

They were joined by dozens of powerful commanders and politicians, including Foreign Minister Salahudin Rabbani and Deputy Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Mohaqeq.

Pictures of this very public show of support - and force - were widely circulated.

It's still not clear what exactly prompted the Americans to take action, but the fact that Jan Ahmad's weapons cache was located just 20 kilometres from the main US base at Bagram, could have been a motivating factor.

A spokesman for the US military said they were operating within their mandate for providing "force protection" following the handover of responsibility for security from Nato to Afghan forces at the end of 2014.

"This ammunition cache had potential to be used in attacks against coalition forces and Afghans. So we took appropriate measure to eliminate the threat," public affairs director Colonel Brian Tribus told the BBC.

Solo US operations are still legal in exceptional circumstances.

Jan Ahmad is clearly furious about the US raid and doesn't see anything unusual in the fact that he had a cache of weapons at his home.

'Talk to Abdullah'

Afghan military analysts say that despite an expensive, eight-year demobilisation and disarmament campaign, hundreds of local commanders who gave up their weapons after the fall of the Taliban have acquired new ones in the ensuing years.

Ghafour Lewal from the Afghanistan Centre of Strategic Studies says that for the central government these commanders are now as dangerous as the Taliban and Islamic State (IS) fighters.

"Afghanistan is not only threatened by the armed insurgent groups," he told the BBC.

"The security vulnerability of the country has other sides too. Most importantly the illegal weapons held by irresponsible groups of former commanders. "

Some observers are beginning to draw parallels with the 1990s when the arms caches built up by rival commanders during the Soviet era facilitated a renewed civil war after the Russians left.

Jan Ahmad blames President Ghani for the raid, although Dr Abdullah has denied that anyone from the government was involved.

But the incident shows just how deep the divisions are at the top of Afghan politics.

The National Unity government forged after last year's disputed election is an uneasy alliance between supporters of the two rival candidates, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah.

Jan Ahmad says he doesn't recognise President Ghani's authority. "If he has anything to say, he should talk to Abdullah, then Abdullah can talk to us," he tells the BBC.

The sense of a political system slowly fracturing was further intensified by the announcement last month that two other commanders in the north of the country were setting aside their differences to work together to fight Taliban and IS insurgents.

Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammad Noor said they were seeking local solutions to the deteriorating security situation in the country.

President Ghani has so far not commented on the case. The BBC asked his spokesman Zafar Hashemi for a response but none has been forthcoming.