Agencies  --  Arab News

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, 25 April 2004 — Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday met United Nations and Afghan provincial officials on his first trip to the southern city of Kandahar since he escaped an assassination attempt there two years ago, officials said.

In his meetings with tribal and religious leaders and government officials, Karzai urged them to take part in the general election in September and support government’s campaign to disarm private armed militias and end poppy cultivation in the region.

He also met diplomats from Iran, India and Pakistan, said Khalid Pushtun, spokesman for the provincial governor. Karzai, accompanied by Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and Urban Development Minister Gul Agha Sherzai, arrived in the restive city and drove to the governor’s house from the airport under tight security.

US and Afghan military men guarded the roads leading to the governor’s house. “The president met UNAMA (UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan) officials and discussed voter registration and disarmament,” campaign in the region, Pushtun said.

Afghanistan is due to hold its first elections in September under the United Nations sponsored political process. The government has been working to establish its writ across the country through a campaign aimed at disarming private militias and neutralizing the influence of warlords.

Karzai narrowly escaped a bid on his life in early 2002 in Kandahar, the former stronghold of Taleban supreme leader Mulla Omar. The Taleban were ousted from power in late 2001 by US-led military forces, but remnants of the hard-line militia have continued to mount attacks against coalition troops and the fledgling Afghan army as well as on aid workers in southern and southeastern regions. Officials would not give details of Karzai’s program due to security reasons.

Meanwhile, former US football star Pat Tillman, who gave up a $3.6 million sports contract to join the military, was killed in a sustained firefight involving 15-20 insurgents in Afghanistan, the US military said yesterday.

As details emerged of the bloody ambush involving the 27-year-old former professional football player, an Afghan official said nine Taleban guerrillas were killed by Tillman’s elite Army Ranger unit in the Thursday evening clash. “They were ambushed. They dismounted. They moved toward the ambush, the firefight ensued and that is when specialist Tillman was killed,” US Lt. Col. Matt Beevers told reporters.

Tillman’s unit was hunting Al-Qaeda and Taleban guerrillas near the eastern city of Khost along the Pakistan border. Beevers said there had been a pickup in hit-and-run attacks on soft targets by suspected Taleban south of Khost in Kandahar province.

Tillman, who quit his National Football League career in May of 2002, eight months after the Sept. 11 attacks on America, was the most prominent American public figure killed in fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His death brought to four the number of US soldiers reported killed in operation “Mountain Storm”, which began on March 7 and involves troops from the 15,500-strong US-led force backed by air support. Two US soldiers were wounded in the fighting near the village of Sperah, southwest of Khost.

One Afghan National Army soldier also died while nine Taleban militants were killed, said Khial Baz Shirzai, commander of the 25th Division of the Afghan National Army in Khost. Paktia province, where the ambush took place, is one of several remote southeastern Afghan provinces at the heart of an insurgency.

Enlisting with his brother, Kevin, in the wake of the 2001 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, Tillman turned down the $3.6 million contract from the Arizona Cardinals to become an Army Ranger for an annual salary of $18,000. Tillman played for four seasons with the Cardinals, from 1998 to 2001.When asked how many militants were involved in Thursday’s attack, Beevers said: “The way I have seen it characterized is as a sustained firefight, so I would say 15-20 at least.”

Attacks on soft targets such as politicians and Afghan forces around Kandahar province had picked up in recent weeks, possibly to disrupt Afghanistan first-ever presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for September, said Beevers.