CIA warns of potential for civil war in Afghanistan

AP Diplomatic WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- The Central Intelligence Agency is warning in a classified analysis that Afghanistan could descend into civil war due to fierce competition for power among rival warlords, a senior U.S. official said Friday.

There is agreement within the U.S. government that the south Asian country's security could be bolstered by setting up an Afghan army, a national police force and an effective legal system.

But there is disagreement within the U.S. government over whether to expand an international peacekeeping force, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He said the State Department favored the expansion but the Pentagon was reluctant to have that step taken.

"Civil war is not eminent, but the seeds are there," the official told The Associated Press as he verified an account in Thursday's edition of The New York Times.

Even putting an Afghan military force in place could take months, while efforts to develop a police force have made little headway.

If the 4,500-strong international security force in Kabul is enlarged it could also help maintain order in other cities.

No Americans would serve in the security force.

The Pentagon's reluctance is based on the theory that expansion would take resources away from the American campaign to combat terrorism around the world.

But the interim Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, urged President Bush in a meeting last month that the force be expanded to other cities and some warlords are said to be in favor of such a move.

The issue is of concern also in Britain, which has deployed 2,000 security forces in Afghanistan, straining that country's overseas force. But an American decision could set the pace for Britain and other countries.

Bush has dispatched his special envoy for Afghanistan to Kabul to meet Karzai.

Zalmay Khalilzad, who is scheduled to be in Afghanistan through Feb. 25, also will consult with other senior Afghan and United Nations officials on the ongoing war "to root out al-Qaida and remnants of the Taliban," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said in a written statement released Thursday in Beijing, the last stop in Bush's visit to Asia.