This week's
installment of AfPak
Behind the Lines covers southern Afghanistan's
power brokers, border with Pakistan,
and coalition operations with journalist Anand Gopal.
1. Ahmed Wali Karzai,
Afghan president Hamid Karzai's half-brother, is a well-known and controversial
power broker in southern Afghanistan.
Aside from him, who are the other major players in the area? What are their
relationships with the Afghan central government and the coalition, the
insurgency, and each other?
Ahmed Wali gets most of the attention, and rightfully so,
but there are in fact a host of other important figures in the southern Afghanistan
scene. In the early years after 2001, the south was dominated by three
formidable governors: Sher Ahmed Akhundzada of Helmand,
Jan Muhammad Khan of Uruzgan and Gul Agha Sherzai of Kandahar. They were former
mujahedeen commanders who were ousted when the Taliban came to power in the
mid-nineties and subsequently reinstated following the U.S. invasion.
All three had poor governance records and were repeatedly accused of human
rights violations, exploiting tribal tensions, drug trafficking, running
private militias, and more. In fact, many Afghans maintain that these men, and
their associates, were partly responsible for fueling popular resentment
towards the government and creating space for the Taliban's resurgence.
While the three were eventually removed from their positions
by 2007, they continue to attempt to project their influence in southern
affairs today.
