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AFGHANISTAN: Disarmament programme extended

31 Oct 2007 17:12:39 GMT
Source: IRIN

Background

• Afghan turmoil

KABUL, 31 October 2007 (IRIN) - The government of Afghanistan has extended its programme to disband all illegal armed groups by four years, according to officials.

After the completion of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of more than 60,000 armed militias in June 2004, the government of President Hamid Karzai had vowed that the disbandment of illegal armed groups (DIAG) would be completed within three years by the end of 2007.

"The government has decided to extend the mandate of the DIAG until 2011," said Masoum Stanikzai, head of the DIAG commission, adding that the project had been unable to achieve all its goals according to the previous deadline.

Afghanistan's biggest project to demilitarise thousands of armed men and boost peace and development has been hampered by "intractable warlords", weak security institutions and regional "terrorist networks", Stanikzai said.

"Militia leaders and warlords still try to maintain their dominance over communities through military and violent means," Stanikzai said.

"Additionally, while we collect weapons, terrorist networks which have sources outside Afghanistan continuously re-arm insurgents and other criminal gangs," he added.

About 34,709 weapons and 340,036 boxes of ammunition have been collected through DIAG to date. Hundreds of illegal military groups, however, still exist in different parts of the country outside the writ of the government, DIAG officials estimate.

More than US$250 million has been spent on DDR. In the DIAG phase, however, illegal armed factions are not entitled to formal economic and political rewards in return for their disbandment.

Consequently, DIAG has been both controversial and challenging, officials concede. "Sometimes they [Mujahideen leaders] say DIAG is good and sometimes they warn about the disarmament of Mujahideen," Stanizak said.

Weak law enforcement

At a recent meeting of the Joint Coordination and Management Board - comprising the Afghan government, UN and donor representatives tasked to oversee progress towards the Afghanistan Compact - participants agreed that unless strong and reliable law enforcement institutions are established, Afghanistan would be unable to effectively implement DIAG.

International donors have agreed to build a 70,000-strong army and 80,000-strong national police force by 2011.

However, in the absence of strong law enforcement capacity, the deadline of 2007 for the disbandment of all illegal armed gangs was unrealistic, said Noor Ahmad Akbari, a member of the Afghan parliament, who monitors DIAG's progress.

"How can you disarm and disband an armed group in a rural village where there is no police, no army and no law-enforcing power?" Akbari asked, rhetorically.

Stanikzai, meanwhile, acknowledged that the government and its international donors had extended the project in parallel with the build-up of security institutions in the country.

"Our police and army forces must be able to fill the vacuum and provide security after DIAG collects weapons and disbands armed groups," he said.

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Last updated:Wed Oct 31 17:15:26 2007