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April 04, 2007

Implications of the United National Front

MattweemsunfMatthew DuPee at Afgha.com writes that the public announcement of the United National Front (Jabhe-ye-Motahed-e-Milli) constitutes "a significant political development recently occurred in Kabul under the radar of almost every international news outlet."  The March 12 UNF meeting creates "a combined political party that meshes most of those responsible" for the bloodletting of the 1990s under one umbrella. The group's powerful leaders (multi-ethnic and drawn from groups that were formerly at odds)  include :

  • Burhanuddin Rabbani (Former president)
  • Younus Qanuni (Speaker, lower house; runner-up in 2005 election)
  • Ismail Khan ("Emir of the West" & current Minister for Energy)
  • Rashid Dostum (current military aide, Uzbek strongman)
  • Sayed Mustafa Kazimi (Commerce Minister)
  • (Sayed) Mohammad Gulabzoy (communist-era Minister)   
  • Noor-ul-Haq Ulumi (former communist leader)

DuPee's piece contains many useful, if at time overheated, observations. He observes that:

The UNF has established a list of public goals it wishes to accomplish: continuing to work on bringing ‘true democracy’ to Afghanistan, representing Afghans across ethnic and regional boundaries, changing the working procedure of Parliament and the method of appointing Governors and attorneys. Member Sayed Gulabzoy recently said in an interview with IWPR, “We want to change the constitution, change the form of government from presidential to parliamentary, and have direct elections for mayors and governors.”

He also speculates that if the Karzai government falters, a "pre-negotiation ceasefire with the Taliban could take place before the collapse and essentially concede the southern provinces to the Taliban." This assumes that these leaders would be willing to see the re-fragmentation of Afghanistan in order to return to their own fiefdoms -- not an obvious conclusion.

Artwork: Matt Weems

Posted by Carl Robichaud on April 04, 2007 at 05:21 PM in Politics |

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