Armed men ordered off Kabul's streets within 72 hours

Associated Press WriterKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The government has ordered armed men to get off the streets of the Afghan capital within three days or be thrown in jail, Interior Minister Younus Qanooni said Wednesday.

The order would allow only uniformed police on Kabul's streets to carry arms, in an attempt to bolster the new government's authority in the capital, where armed men from various factions bristling with rocket launchers and automatic weapons have moved freely since the departure of Taliban on Nov. 13.

Prime Minister Hamid Karzai ordered armed men to return to their barracks within 72 hours or face arrest, Qanooni said. The order took effect Tuesday night, the minister said.

Only police -- all of whom will be in uniform -- will be allowed to carry weapons, Qanooni told The Associated Press by telephone.

Karzai has repeatedly said his interim government's priority will be security and the first order of business was to get the men with guns out of the city.

The U.N.-brokered agreement that set up the government and allowed the deployment of international peacekeepers in Kabul required the withdrawal of all military personnel from the capital.

But some of the barracks to which the armed men would return under the new order are located in the heart of the city. International observers say those barracks must be emptied.

"These barracks are not new. They have been here for decades. This is where our military stays," Qanooni said.

The only exceptions to the order are for Cabinet ministers' bodyguards, Qanooni said. Each minister will likely be allowed a maximum of four bodyguards, although no formal decision has been made, he said.