Afghan rebels plan for elections

Upcoming presidential elections are giving Afghan rebels a new focus, drawing disparate groups and Taliban factions back into communication and cooperation. The strategy is to peel off Pashtun support for the Oct. 9 ballot in order to divide them from the central government.

As the campaigning officially kicked off last week, insurgent commanders and militants have been holding secret meetings in Afghanistan's Pashtun-dominated south and east. Included in the talks are the Taliban, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-i-Islami, warlord Yunus Khalis, and a new group emerging on the scene - Jaish-e-Muslamin.

"We are busy forming the alliance to [disrupt] the farcical elections," says Syed Akbar Agha, chief of Jaish-e-Muslamin, from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. "[We] are meeting to delegate responsibilities and form a joint platform for activities against infidel forces and their slave Afghan government."

In a new videotape aired on Al Jazeera Thursday, Osama bin Laden's deputy claimed that mujahideen, or holy fighters, have already taken control of parts of Afghanistan. "Southern and eastern Afghanistan have completely become an open field for the mujahideen," said Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The newest group to emerge, Jaish-e- Muslamin, claims to have 75 groups of five fighters each in Kandahar Province, 13 groups of four to five guerrillas each in Kabul, and 60 to 70 fighters outside Kabul. That size force is too small to supplant the Taliban as the primary rebel group, say analysts. But the new group appears to be trying to broaden the rebellion's appeal and coordination.

"Our effort is to attract mujahideen who were reluctant to join the Taliban. Our aim is to fight for a common cause to liberate Afghanistan from foreign forces," says Jaish's military commander, Maulvi Mansoor Ishaq.

Jaish has been also enlisting Afghan clerics to its cause, including Mullah Abdullah Zakiri, who attended one of the recent rebel summits. On the eve of the US invasion, Mullah Zakiri chaired the congregation of clerics who advised the Taliban not to hand over Osama bin Laden.

As antigovernment forces rally, President Hamid Karzai is embroiled in a power struggle with one of the top warlords in his government. Mr. Karzai ordered the removal of the governor of Herat, Ismail Khan, sparking violent reactions from supporters who attacked a UN compound and stoned US soldiers. About a dozen people were injured in the violence.

Like Mr. Kahn and many of the country's other warlords, the Jaish-e-Muslamin militants are mostly former mujahideen. They claim to have merged into Mullah Omar's Taliban movement in 1994 and several of them held important positions during the Taliban's regime.

Analysts say the Jaish group is too small to accomplish the enormous task of uniting all militant factions, particularly the most powerful militia of the Taliban.

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