Afghan tribes in Kandahar work to bury hatchet

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – There are signs one of the major political sores that has inflamed the Afghan war in Kandahar is finally starting to crust over.

The Karzai government is moving cautiously to ease tension among the tribes, and some of the warring factions seem to be quietly agreeing to bury the hatchet – and not in each other, for once.

If it holds, the painful balancing act of competing interests could lead to a significant lowering of the political temperature in the insurgency-plagued south.

What was evident, but perhaps not widely grasped by Canadians, was that the violence that engulfed the province in 2006 was more than just the Taliban attempting to reclaim their heartland.

"I don’t think we understood a number of things when we came in here," said Howard Coombs, a special adviser to the Canadian task force commander.

"I’m not faulting anyone, it’s just the way it was."

Canadian troops and diplomats were plopped down squarely in the middle of a narco-drug war and a civil war between rival Pashtun tribes, some of which were engaged in blood feuds dating back decades, even centuries.

Political divisions within the confusing jumble of the tribes contributed just as much to the fighting as the fundamentalist undertow of the insurgency, Coombs said.

"I don’t think we really understood the impact of 30 years of conflict and that society had been completely fractured, the social fabric had been pretty near destroyed."

The government in Kabul, often represented in Kandahar by the president’s half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai, was notorious for cherry-picking support among friendly clans and nationalizing others.

The Karzais, members of the Popalzai tribe, lavished jobs and favour on its members as well as other tribes – a survival mechanism following the overthrow of the Taliban, but one that drove wedges deep amid the brutal nature of Afghan politics.

That now appears to be changing.

"It is getting better," said Kandahar mayor Ghulam Hayder Hamidi.

"The tribes are brothers and sisters in Islam. Those warlords, those drug dealers, those power brokers, they were making (the) trouble between the tribes."

Canadian task force commander Brig.-Gen. Dean Milner said he’s seen a genuine attempt by the provincial administration in the last few months to be inclusive and not favour one group over another.

"We’re seeing more of a team aspect in the province," Milner said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.

"It’s a start, but there’s no doubt in my mind that there are tribal dynamics that need to be worked on."

The tribe most significantly marginalized was the Noorzai, an ancient clan that populates much of Panjwaii and Zhari districts. It was among the first groups to embrace the Taliban, offering insurgents safe haven and fighting-age males when the Canadians arrived five years ago.

The isolation was made complete in the late summer of 2006 when Gen. Abdul Raziq, an Achakzai in charge of the border police at the time, led a raid into Noorzai territory.

The resulting bloodbath layered a tribal war on top of the Taliban insurgency, experts said. The Noorzai accused Raziq of trying to wipe them out in order to gain control of the drug shipment routes for the rival Achakzai.

Raziq, who led a shock force of 400 militia fighters that swept ahead of advancing NATO forces last fall, was recently appointed provincial police chief.

"He has said (to me) categorically that we need to get past all of that…past all the old divisions," said Milner, who will soon hand over the region to an American commander.

The appointments made by the government in Kabul have become more politically neutral over the last year. Advisers to Milner say more care is being taken with decisions.

The provincial governor, Afghan-Canadian Tooryalai Wesa, personally signs off on each police hire within villages, maintaining a balance between the tribes.

It is a soothing balm for a people who are used to settling their political differences with violence.

Coombs said he’s watched the dynamic unfold in some meetings.

"It’s often not discussed directly, the way we would (do)," said Coombs, "but it’s done more with a wink and nudge by saying this person wouldn’t be suitable for this or that position."