Afghanistan warlord says he's being slighted
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) — Over a feast of mutton and rice, Gen. Baba Jan poured himself and his American guests a potent mix of Russian vodka and Pepsi. Then he complained about the way Afghanistan's new government is coming together.
"It's neither democratic nor Islamic," he said, leaning back on the cushions on the floor.
Baba Jan, commander of about 2,000 fighters, controls the area north of Kabul where Bagram air base, the U.S. headquarters for the war in Afghanistan, is located. That's made him one of the closest warlords to the U.S. military: They work with him every day.
At the same time, he's jockeying for power in the new government to be drawn up at the loya jirga — the grand council of Afghans, which begins Monday and which the United States hopes will set Afghanistan on the path to stability.
And he clearly doesn't feel he's getting his fair share.
"My people say to me, 'For seven years you battled the Taliban here. Now no one takes that into account,"' he told The Associated Press.
The general said he has no intention of acting against whatever leadership the loya jirga creates. But his discontent is a feeling likely to be shared by many Afghan power brokers who don't end up with what they want.
Baba Jan, 42, gave a warm welcome to three U.S. officers this week in his compound just outside the gates of the Bagram base. Hidden behind mud walls, a half-dozen turkeys wandered in a garden of grapevines and rose bushes, a startling patch of green in the dust and heat of the village.
Behind the compound — rebuilt after heavy shelling by the Taliban — Baba Jan's fighters lounged in the shade near some of his eight working tanks.
The general, dressed in a dark sports coat and a button-down shirt, exchanged hugs and token gifts with the three officers before they sat cross-legged on cushions on the floor for lunch.
The Americans work closely with Baba Jan. Some of his fighters and one of his brothers hold contracts for construction work and other jobs on the base — though U.S. officials say they're careful to spread contract money among the area's leaders.
And Baba Jan's soldiers are posted in and around the base, helping with security.
"I thank the Americans for helping us put Bagram air base back on its feet and make the base an organized place," he told his guests.
Soon after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, Baba Jan says three U.S. officials approached him about coordinating an attack on the hard-line Taliban militia, who ruled almost all Afghanistan at the time.
Baba Jan had been on the front lines of the war with the Taliban around Bagram base for years. Taliban tanks and troops were dug in only a few miles from his headquarters. More than once the Taliban took his compound, only to be driven out again by Baba Jan's fighters.
U.S. warplanes pounded the Taliban for weeks until Baba Jan's troops were able to swarm over their mud-brick forts and trenches in November.
During lunch, the general suddenly exclaimed, "We have a Taliban here!" To his guests, he showed off Zekriya, a tall man with a long dark beard who shuffled into the room. Eyes downcast, Zekriya described how he had been fighting for the Taliban when he surrendered to Baba Jan. He has since lived in the compound.
"We're friends now. See, he drinks with us," Baba Jan said, pushing a glass of vodka and Pepsi to Zekriya. After trying to refuse, Zekriya finally drank down the glass. "Still, he says he's with me, but his heart is with the Taliban," Baba Jan said.
Like many of Afghanistan's military leaders, Baba Jan has been on several sides of the country's conflicts over the past 20 years. He was even a general under the communist government of President Najibullah, installed by the Soviet Union.
Now his territory includes about 10 villages in the Bagram area. His domain is not as large as the biggest warlords, like Ismail Khan in the west and Gen. Rashid Dostum in the north. But he clearly feels his role in fighting the Taliban entitles him to influence in the new government.
He compares the loya jirga to old tribal law, not a democracy. "It can't give someone legitimacy, but at the same time we can't ignore him either," he said. Instead, he said, there should be free elections and a parliament.
He said he wants to enter politics, but was vague about his ambitions. And he clearly recognized where power lies. Asked if he wanted to become a government minister, he said, "You can have a ministry and not have the people, but when the people are with you, a ministry is useless."
When asked if he would give up his fighters to an Afghan national army now being trained by the Americans, he turned to a proverb.
"One flower doesn't make it springtime," he said. In other words, he'll only give up his weapons if everyone else does.
