Mischief Mongers on the Prowl in Afghan Capital
April 9, 2002
The Frontier Post

KABUL (Agencies): Najiba, 17, was asleep with her parents in their small mud home on the western edge of Kabul when an armed man burst through the front door and demanded guns, money and jewelry.

In the moonlight, she could see two other gunmen standing at each of the windows.The terrified family insisted they had nothing of value, so the gunman took Najiba instead, dragging her by the arm out the door. Halfway across the yard, Najiba heard gunshots. Both her parents had been shot dead.

Her mother had been hit twice in the stomach as she tried to climb a ladder to the roof of the house to alert neighbors; her father was bayoneted and shot as he tried to protect his wife.

The gunmen let Najiba go as they made their escape, but before leaving, the man who had tried to abduct her delivered a parting boast.

“He said, `Since the Taliban left, we have killed over 100 people,’” recalled Najiba, who looks far younger than her years and is still in a state of shock.

The gruesome double murder in this impoverished district of Kabul is just one of a number of incidents that have set the city on edge in recent days.

The arrest of 160 suspects in an alleged coup conspiracy, murky rumors of plots against Western targets, and an upsurge of lawlessness in the western district of Kabul have contributed to a growing sense that the stability that had settled over the Afghan capital is no longer assured.

On the face of it, the murder of Najiba’s parents-the family has no surname, as is common with many Afghans-was nothing more than an armed robbery gone wrong, an incidence of the banditry common in the countryside lapping up against the fringes of the city.

But neighbors, government officials and international peacekeepers say they are not so sure.

Since January, when the 4,800 troops of the British-led ISAF, began patrolling the city, guns had all but disappeared from the streets, crime had diminished and Kabul’s citizens had begun to enjoy a sense of security unparalleled in recent years.

That was until the mysterious gunmen started appearing after dark in the Bajie district on the western fringe of the city, where the city’s mud houses stop and the lawless countryside begins.

Then, about two weeks ago, a woman was shot dead and two of her relatives injured when gunmen burst into their home.

A week later, Najiba’s parents were killed. Two days after that, a British patrol came under gunfire nearby, convincing many residents that they were being targeted in a broader conspiracy to undermine the order that had taken hold in the city.

“This is a deliberate attempt to destabilize our area and to drive out the foreigners,” said Muhammad Hadi Hadi, the neighborhood’s senior tribal elder, referring to the peacekeepers who he says have the “100 percent support” of residents.

The ISAF peacekeepers patrolling the area initially assumed they were dealing simply with banditry, probably involving militiamen who had not been paid.

Bajie is one of Kabul’s poorest areas, making it an unlikely target for robbers. But it is also an easy target; on the farthest edge of the city, it is bordered by deeply rutted wasteland affording easy cover. Only four police officers are assigned to the entire area, with two guns between them. No one has electricity or cars, and the city’s 10 p.m. curfew makes it difficult for residents to seek help if threatened.

Though residents have welcomed the ISAF, its resources are stretched thin.

U.S. and UN officials have made it clear the peacekeeping force will not be increased or extended beyond Kabul, despite appeals for reinforcements by the interim government.

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