Bamiyan Safest Place in Afghanistan: Tribal Leader

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, February 17, 2002

Bamiyan Safest Place in Afghanistan: Tribal Leader

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The central Afghan province of Bamiyan is the most secure place across the country as the security still remains a concern after the interim administration assumes power nearly two months ago, local leader Abdul Karim Khalili said on Saturday.

In an interview with Xinhua, Khalili, leader of the Afghan Islamic United Party, said that there has been no sound of guns in the town after Taliban regime collapsed in December last year. The most secure province in Afghanistan is Bamiyan, he added.

"When Taliban collapsed, I convinced all the commanders in the region that there is no looting, no killing, no robberies, so there should be no more fighting," he said.

Even the local villagers who joined the Taliban forces in the past were well treated. "This is the sign of peace," he told Xinhua through an interpreter.

Bamiyan, famous for its buddhist complex in the cliffs of the mountains built about 2,500 years ago, was a battlefield between Taliban troops and the Hazara forces led by Khalili only three months ago.

Khalili said that the security is not resulted from his power or his strong forces, but from the respect by the local people and commanders for him. He called on all the armed people to stop

fighting.

He said he did not want to be the governor, or the commander, nor a minister of the government. "I want to be free, I should serve the people of Bamiyan," he said, adding that he can serve

better the people as a "free man."

Expressing his support for the current administration, Khalili said that he was "satisfied with the performance" of the interim leader Hamid Karzai.

Karzai, who is scheduled to visit Bamiyan and meet Khalili on Saturday, was kept busy after tourism minister Abdul Rahman was murdered at the Kabul Airport. The visit was postponed until next week.

Green-black-red national flags were flying over the main street and the troops were trained to welcome Karzai.

"In different parts of Afghanistan, we have full cooperation with the new government," Khalili said, expressing his confidence that peace and security will sustain in the country which was

ravaged by a 23-year civil war.

Most of Khalili's family members still live in Iran. He came back to Bamiyan from Iran one and half years ago to join a ampaign together with the Northern Alliance against the Taliban

regime. His brother, Muhammad Zia Khalili, 16 years old, has

returned from Iran to join him.

Khalili denied he received any support from Iran or other countries during his fight with Taliban. For eight months in 2001, his forces had been besieged by the Taliban forces and there is no

chance for foreign aid to be transported to his forces, he said.

Khalili and a small number of troops escaped from the Taliban siege in August last year. After the U.S. started bombing the Taliban forces in October, he led his forces back and defeated them more than three months ago.

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