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. Warlords wear out Afghans' welcome 'Now anyone with a gun is the law' By KATHY GANNONAssociated Press KABUL, Afghanistan -- Along a potholed road in eastern Afghanistan, Mohammed Jan points through a cloud of dust at a line of mansions that seem out of place in such poverty-stricken surroundings. "This is where the new, beautiful houses begin. They belong to the commanders. Their money is from drugs, from smuggling. They will never be caught. Their soldiers are working with the Americans," says Jan, himself a small-time opium grower. Nearly two years after the collapse of Taliban rule, ordinary Afghans like Jan say they are losing faith in the United States and its coalition partners. They point to rampant corruption, President Hamid Karzai's weak leadership and the behavior of U.S.-backed warlords whose private armies operate with impunity throughout most of Afghanistan. Their disillusionment is strengthening Taliban holdouts, whose attacks are getting bolder. Nowadays the rebels don't fear being turned over to authorities; they say most villages give them food and shelter. "The big mistake is from the Americans. They want to bring peace to Afghanistan with thieves and killers. The Americans after two years have learned nothing," said Abdul Raouf, a car dealer in the eastern city of Jalalabad. "Every day the situation is worse." The American invasion of Afghanistan relied heavily on local anti-Taliban forces, and it was inevitable that these warlords would continue to be important forces in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida network that masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks. But Afghans increasingly wonder whetherit was worth it. "Everybody says warlords, but who are these warlords? They are commanders, they are government ministers," said Raouf. "We didn't like the Taliban, but there was security then, there were laws. But now anyone with a gun is the law." Back at the mansions, in the province of Nangarhar, a white marble watchtower peeks over the 10-foot-high brick wall. "Drug smuggler," Jan says. "That's a commander of Hazrat Ali's. Are the Americans crazy? We Afghans know who these people are and what they are doing. There is no security, no development, but these people's pockets are fat with money. We know that without the Americans they would be nobody." The military chief of Afghanistan's eastern zone, Hazrat Ali is a powerful man appointed by Karzai but aligned with Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim. The United States says it is committed to strengthening the central government and is putting more than $1 billion into extending Karzai's control beyond Kabul, the capital to the whole Texas-size country. U.S. officials insist that Jan's lament doesn't reflect the full picture. They say some areas are more secure, some less; some Afghans are optimistic, others not. They point to the reconstruction projects that are beginning, the road that links the capital to Kandahar. Reconstruction, the argument goes, is bound to be slower in the east and south of Afghanistan, where Taliban and al-Qaida fighters are being hunted. Sometimes, Western diplomats say, solutions entail messy compromises; when Karzai decided that the governor of Kandahar was corrupt, he removed him but made him a government minister. The opium industry, harshly suppressed by the Taliban, has made a roaring comeback. The United Nations says production in 2002 generated up to $1.2 billion or almost a fifth of Afghan GDP. Central Asian states and Russia are complaining bitterly about the increase in Afghan drugs flowing north. Those benefiting most are the commanders aligned to the government and working with the U.S.-led coalition, say Afghans in eastern Jalalabad.
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