Growing Concerns About Hamid Karzai's Safety - 2002-07-22

Amid reports indicating growing concerns about the safety of Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan, American soldiers, including members of U.S. special forces, have been asked to protect the Afghan leader. This action comes as a replacement for nearly fifty of Mr. Karzai's personal guards following the unresolved assassination of Abdul Qadir, the Vice President of Afghanistan, in Kabul earlier this month. Fazil Akbar, the spokesman for the Afghan presidency, told the Associated Press today that investigations into Mr. Qadir's murder have not yielded results and measures needed to be taken to enhance the President's security. The spokesman added that Mr. Karzai's guards will be trained by U.S. forces for several months before resuming their duties. He also mentioned in an interview with Time magazine that several junior ministers in Mr. Karzai's cabinet are also under the protection of American soldiers. Senior U.S. military officials have declined to comment on this security measure. Until now, Mr. Karzai's protection has been the responsibility of soldiers loyal to Mohammad Fahim, the Afghan Defense Minister, who is a powerful commander of the Northern Alliance and whose private army helped overthrow the Taliban regime and expel the Taliban from the Afghan capital last year. Some Western diplomats consider the forces loyal to Mr. Fahim, which possess hundreds of tanks and armored personnel carriers, a potential threat to Mr. Karzai's government.