Avalanche buries 20 vehicles on Afghan road

KABUL, Afghanistan -- An avalanche roared down the towering Hindu Kush mountains Wednesday, burying about 20 vehicles in snow near the world's highest tunnel, a United Nations spokesman said.

There was no immediate word on casualties or how many people might be buried near the Salang Tunnel, a key aid conduit some 80 miles north of Kabul, said U.N. spokesman Yusuf Hassan.

The tunnel, which at nearly two miles in length is a widely admired engineering feat, was extensively damaged in Afghanistan's wars but was reopened in January after Russian-led repairs.

The large number of vehicles trapped in the avalanche raised fears that an aid convoy had been buried, but U.N. and Red Cross officials said there was no immediate indication their vehicles were involved.

A helicopter from the international peacekeeping force went to the scene, but the U.N. has no bulldozers or snowplows in the area, Hassan said.

Substantial snowfalls in recent days in Kabul and some other parts of the country have raised hopes that Afghanistan is seeing the end of a three-year drought that has aggravated the devastation of war.

But the snow also has blocked aid from reaching some remote regions, underlining how the country's severe terrain and primitive infrastructure complicate the interim government's efforts to lead the country toward stability and security.

Factional fighting

The government is increasingly trying to exert control over warlords who took control of regions in the power vacuum that followed the fall of the Taliban last November. Prime Minister Hamid Karzai on Wednesday flew to the western city of Herat for talks with Ismail Khan, the warlord who holds sway in that area.

In Mazar-e-Sharif, the north's biggest city, a government-backed security force has told militia factions to withdraw their fighters within two days, a force commander said Wednesday.

Gen. Majid Rouzi, appointed by the interim government to help establish the 600-member force in Mazar-e-Sharif, said he believed regional warlords would comply with the order.

"They will go, I believe. We told them they have two days to go to their barracks," he said.

The region's best-known faction leader, Gen. Rashid Dostum, confirmed Wednesday he is ready to join the withdrawal but insisted the time is not right for the next crucial step of disarming his private army.

Outbursts of factional fighting have hit parts of Afghanistan over the past two months. The most serious factional fighting broke out in the eastern town of Gardez last week, killing more than 60 people before one side pulled back to mountains at the town's fringe.

On Wednesday, tensions remained high in Gardez although both sides said they would observe a cease-fire until at least Friday. Government mediators returned to Gardez on Wednesday in an attempt to negotiate a solution to the conflict, said Safiullah, son of the leader of the local shura, or council.