KABUL -- Said Mohammed Gulabzoy has been accused of war crimes for the horrors that his police inflicted on Afghan rebels in the 1980s, when he was interior minister.
Now, in one of the most unlikely political alliances to emerge in the new Afghanistan, Mr. Gulabzoy has joined forces with the former rebel commanders, saying his old enemies should be given support to fight the Taliban.
"Not every commander is a bad guy," Mr. Gulabzoy said. "If they were allowed to fight, maybe the Taliban wouldn't gain so much territory."
The former Communist is just one of many strange bedfellows in Afghanistan's first true opposition party, the United National Front, which announced itself to a puzzled audience of journalists in March.
More World Stories
Commentators wondered aloud how such an eclectic group could become a coherent political voice. Most of the UNF leaders have confronted each other on the battlefield at some point during Afghanistan's three decades of war, as warlords, strongmen or mujahedeen - holy warriors.
Their ideological backgrounds range from Communist to firebrand Islamist.
One of the few things that the UNF's leadership shares, in fact, is a history of violence. Many of them have led armies of various stripes, and some are accused of atrocities. That's one of the reasons why some analysts dismiss the new front, saying its members have banded together only in hopes of escaping prosecution, as Afghan politicians debate whether to grant a sweeping amnesty for past war crimes.
Three months after its birth, however, diplomats say President Hamid Karzai is taking the front seriously. Its leaders represent some of the major armed factions that have supported his government, especially in the north, and losing their political backing places him in a difficult position as he fights a war against insurgents in the south.
"The Western view is, generally, these are a bunch of disgruntled old warhorses who want to get back in the game," a diplomat said. "We don't see them doing much. But they've certainly frightened Karzai."
Mr. Karzai was on a visit to a regional conference in India when the UNF announced its creation. The Afghan President reacted angrily to the surprise, blaming outside influences for organizing the group. "We have information that some foreign embassies have a hand in it," Mr. Karzai said at the time.
Pakistan would benefit from part of the front's policy platform, which calls for Afghanistan to accept the Durand Line as an international border. The line, drawn by British colonists more than a century ago, is widely recognized as the border between the two countries but remains a source of bitterness among Afghans, who claim vast swaths of Pakistan's border lands.
But the main beneficiaries of the UNF's proposals, observers say, would be the UNF leaders themselves. Many of them were regional warlords who toppled the Taliban in 2001 under the banner of the Northern Alliance, but in the following years they've watched their influence wane as successive government programs attempted to disarm the northern warlords and bring them into the political system. The UNF platform seems aimed at reversing their decline, calling for a switch from a presidential to a parliamentary system; for elected mayors and provincial governors; and for a new voting system that would strengthen political parties.
All such changes would decentralize power, to the advantage of UNF members with regional bases of support: First Vice-President Ahmad Zia Masood in the Panjshir Valley; Energy and Water Minister Mohammad Ismail Khan in the western province of Herat; General Abdul Rashid Dostum in his northern enclave of ethnic Uzbeks; Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim in his ethnic Tajik territories; and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani in the northeastern province of Badakhshan.
The UNF also suggests giving back the weapons to their militias, saying only experienced fighters such as themselves are capable of tackling the southern insurgency.
"We have thousands of potential soldiers and police sitting jobless," Mr. Gulabzoy said in an interview at his well-appointed compound in Kabul. "The mujahedeen who opposed the Russians were very good with fighting and should be allowed to fight the Taliban."
If the statement seems incongruous coming from a former Soviet client who speaks fluent Russian, it sounds more natural on the lips of Fazal Karim Aimaq, a UNF member of parliament closely aligned with Mr. Masood.
"Most of us are experienced warriors," he said after a recitation of his own battle glories. "The government now doesn't know how to fight any more."
One of the looming battles for the UNF will be an internal struggle, however, as the party tries to choose a candidate for presidential elections scheduled for 2009. With many forceful personalities at the table, it's expected to be a fight.
141