43 Killed as Warlords Fight for Afghan City

Terrified families huddled in basements and fled on foot Thursday as rival Afghan warlords waged artillery battles for control of this strategic town, killing at least 43 people and injuring dozens of others.

The fighting gave new urgency to interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai’s appeal for an expanded international security force to be deployed outside the capital, Kabul, to stave off such factional battles.

Laying siege to Gardiz, the capital of Paktia province, was Bacha Khan, a local warlord aligned with Karzai’s administration, which named him governor of the province. Local tribal elders refused to accept Khan’s appointment, so Khan moved to take the city by force.

The fighting could complicate American efforts--including clandestine operations led by small bands of U.S. Special Forces troops--to root out fugitive Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in the southeastern province. Paktia, which borders Pakistan, includes numerous smuggling routes that Taliban and Al Qaeda fugitives could use to escape Afghanistan.

Loud explosions, the dull thud of mortars and the rattle of heavy machine-gun fire echoed through the deserted streets of Gardiz on Thursday as Khan’s troops, dug in atop a pair of hills south of the city, took aim at fighters loyal to the town’s tribal council, holed up in a fortress in the town center.

U.S. warplanes circled overhead during Thursday’s fighting but did not intervene, and a contingent of what local leaders said were U.S. Special Forces troops stayed out of sight at their base south of town.

Khan has been aiding the U.S. troops.

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Beginning in stories published in 2006, the Afghan warlord Bacha Khan is identified as Pacha Khan Zadran. (Second reference is “Pacha Khan.”)

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