Two Afghan warlords to hold fire

GARDEZ, Afghanistan -- Afghan and United Nations mediators, joined by American officials, on Sunday extracted a conditional cease-fire agreement from two rival tribal warlords in an eastern Afghan town that was rocked by two days of fighting last week.

With factional fighting threatening government efforts to assert control throughout the country, the delegation hopes to avert more tribal clashes in Gardez, a town of about 40,000 people that is the capital of Paktia, a strategic border province. U.S. forces want to ensure that al-Qaida fugitives cannot flee through Paktia's border passes into neighboring Pakistan.

On Wednesday and Thursday, soldiers for warlord Bacha Khan exchanged artillery fire with forces loyal to Gardez's tribal council, or shura, which bitterly opposes Khan's appointment as provincial governor. At least 61 people were killed.

Just before meeting the mediators, Khan said he was ready to fight on to assert his rights as governor -- an appointment that was initially self-declared, but later sanctioned by the government of interim leader Hamid Karzai.

"I am officially the governor of Gardez. I am ready for more fighting," Khan said, gesturing toward 200 of his soldiers standing near a mud-walled outpost outside of Gardez, where the delegation traveled to meet him. "You can see my fighters."

Shura leaders say Khan is corrupt and brutal and have appealed for another governor.

During a break in the talks, Khan said he had agreed to a request by mediators to hold off until Friday on any new assault on Gardez, 60 miles south of the Afghan capital, Kabul. But Khan said he would resume the attack if he was not satisfied with the pace of prisoner exchanges and return of the bodies of slain fighters.

In an early sign of trouble, the Gardez shura said it had returned the bodies of Khan's dead fighters, but he denied having received any.

Mediation to continue

Mediation efforts were to continue today.

Townspeople said U.S. aircraft dropped leaflets Saturday night urging an end to the fighting, the worst clashes between rival warlords since Karzai's government took office on Dec. 22.

"We are all in Afghanistan," said the leaflets in Dari and Pashtu, the two local languages. "We must be united and one together."

B-52 bombers circled over the Gardez region on Sunday for what residents said was the first time in two weeks. U.S. Special Forces are hunting al-Qaida fugitives in the region, where Osama bin Laden's terror network had extensive training camps and arms caches.

"There continue to remain pockets of Taliban and al-Qaida in the area," said Capt. Tony Rivers, a U.S. Army spokesman in Kandahar. "We continue combat operations all over Afghanistan."

Although U.S. forces did not intervene in last week's clashes, several U.S. armed escorts stood guard while the separate talks with the two sides went on. Two American officials took part in the talks, several participants said, describing one as a U.S. Embassy official.

The Americans standing guard outside would not identify themselves or their unit but said they were based "around here."