KABUL, July 20 (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai promoted three powerful warlords Tuesday in an apparent bid to bring private militias into the government fold ahead of presidential polls.
The promotions came a week after Karzai announced a crackdown on private militias saying that provincial warlords pose a bigger threat to stability than the Taliban insurgency, highlighting the problems of the central government in exerting control over restive provinces.
General Atta Mohammad was made governor of the troubled northern province of Balkh, presidential spokesman Jawad Ludin told reporters.
Atta Mohammad has been involved in factional skirmishes with rival warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostam near the provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif. He recently placed the city's government-appointed police chief under house arrest and directed his troops to take control of the city.
General Khan Mohammad, army commander in the former Taliban stronghold of southern province Kandahar, and General Hazrat Ali, army commander of eastern Nangarhar province, were both made police chiefs of their respective provinces.
"President Hamid Karzai signed the decree reassigning three corps commanders," Ludin said.
The decision was made after regional army commanders and warlords were invited to the capital for talks to maintain better security for upcoming presidential elections scheduled for October 9.
Parliamentary elections have been delayed until April because of deteriorating security which has seen a surge of attacks against government, election and aid workers in recent months.
"Corps commanders in the past week had meetings with President Hamid Karzai and defense minister General Fahim to talk on security issues and the election was one of the main points of discussion," Ludin added.
Afghanistan's US-backed central government has the support of the international community, but international forces have been reluctant to commit troops to cities outside Kabul, leaving the rest of the country under the sway of warlords who built up private militias battling the Soviets and the Taliban.
A United Nations-backed program to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate soldiers who have only ever known a life of fighting into civilian society is underway, but progress is slow.
So far just over 10,000 militiamen laid down their arms out of a projected target of 37,000 to be disarmed head of spring 2005 parliamentary polls.
Last week Karzai issued a decree indicating those who resist the disarmament process would be branded rebels and be severely punished, but the decree did not outline how this might be achieved.
Security is deteriorating as the country gets closer to elections.