http://www.afgha.com/?af=article&sid=37540Bloomberg
Sept. 23, 2003
Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush must end U.S. support for warlords in Afghanistan because the policy is contributing to the destabilization of the country, Human Rights Watch said.
The call was made in a letter sent to Bush to coincide with his meeting today at the United Nations in New York with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the group said.
``It is crucial that the United States immediately end its unsuccessful policy of supporting the national government and regional warlords at the same time,'' Brad Adams, executive director of the group's Asia division, said in a statement on its Web site. ``This policy has been both destabilizing and contributed to human rights abuses.''
Karzai's government, which replaced the Taliban regime that was ousted in the U.S.-led war on terrorism in December 2001, has been unable to exert its authority outside the capital, Kabul, where it is supported by an international peacekeeping force. The U.S. formed ties with warlords when it led the fight to oust the Taliban who supported the al-Qaeda terrorist network blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington.
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