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Ex-Governor Elected to Afghan Parliament
By AMIR SHAH
Associated Press Writer
10/18/05 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A former regional governor
who oversaw the destruction of two massive 1,500-year-old Buddha
statues during the Taliban's reign was elected to the Afghan
parliament last month, officials said Tuesday as results from
two provinces were finalized.
Elsewhere, U.S.-led coalition forces killed four police officers
after mistaking them for militants during an operation in the
southern province of Kandahar, provincial Gov. Asadullah Khalid
said. The coalition said it could not confirm the shootings and
was investigating.
Mawlawi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, who was the Taliban's governor
of Bamiyan province when the fifth-century Buddha statues were
blown up with dynamite and artillery in March 2001, was chosen
to represent the neighboring province of Samangan, according to
results posted by the U.N.-Afghan election organizers. Election
law did not bar former Taliban officials from participating in
the Sept. 18 polls.
International outcry followed the destruction of the giant
Buddhas, which were chiseled into a cliff and famed for their
size and location along the ancient Silk Road linking Europe and
Central Asia. Archaeologists in Bamiyan have been painstakingly
collecting the stone remains of the two statues - the largest of
which was 174 feet high - and are considering rebuilding them.
Mohammadi told The Associated Press he should not be held
responsible for the destruction of the statues, which the
Taliban considered to be idolatrous and anti-Muslim.
``It was not my decision. It was foreigners like Chechens and
Arabs with the Taliban who made the decision. They were crazy
people,'' he said in a telephone interview, pointing to the
influence of foreign Islamic extremists over the hard-line
regime. ``Even though I was governor, I had no power.''
Mohammadi fled to the country's north and was never detained
after U.S.-led forces ousted the fundamentalist regime in late
2001.
Samangan province also is home to some artifacts, including
Buddhist stupas and the remains of a 1,000-year-old monastery.
Mohammadi promised to ``do everything I can to protect them.''
Provisional results from the landmark elections have been
published for several regions, but tallies from only four
provinces have been finalized, including Samangan and nearby
Kapisa province on Tuesday. Three former warlords still
suspected of having ties to armed groups also were declared
winners in those areas.
Human rights activists say many of the winning candidates are
regional strongmen linked to armed groups, raising fears of more
violence.
``Many of the winners are linked to armed groups or drugs,''
said Ahmad Fahim Hakim, deputy director of the state-sponsored
Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, referring to a
booming trade in heroin and opium.
``The number of elected lawmakers who are honest and interested
in reform may be tiny compared to the regional strongmen who are
only interested in themselves.''
In the latest bloodshed, Kandahar's governor said U.S.-led
coalition troops opened fire at police in the province's Maywand
district late Monday after spotting the officers firing their
weapons into the air and mistaking them for Taliban rebels.
U.S. military spokeswoman Sgt. Marina Evans said investigators
were looking into the shooting, but she could not confirm it
involved coalition forces.
A bomb also exploded on a main road in the south and killed an
Afghan guard working for an American security company and
wounded two others, Khalid said.
Fighting has escalated in Afghanistan in the past six months,
leaving more than 1,400 people dead and raising fears for the
country's nascent democracy.
On the Net: - Joint Election Management Board:
http://www.jemb.org
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