Afghan Warrior

20 Taliban commanders have surrendered to the government in the western province of Ghor last week. The commanders are reportedly the candidates of the parliamentary and provincial council elections. They have surrendered their weapons to the Disarmament Demobilization Reintegration (DDR) and they declared their full support for the Afghan Government.

According to the complaints commission of the parliamentary election, the names of 233 candidates have been canceled from the primary list after discussions. 208 candidates are still armed and they have not yet handed over their weapons to the DDR process. 13 of the canceled are those who have not resigned from their govenmental posts yet, and 12 others have not collected the number of signatures that is needed according to the election rules. Most of the former commanders handed over their weapons to the {DDR} process in order to participate in parliamentary elections, but a number of them have been canceled from the list that was prepared by the complaints commission. These commanders had a consultative meeting in the capital Kabul yesterday, to find a way of solving their problem. More than 50 commanders from different provinces participated in the meeting and they expressed their views regarding the problems they encountered. One of the participants, commander Noor Habib, said they are trying to find a peaceful way to solve this problem. He added that although they have handed over their weapons to the DDR process and have also received appreciation letters, their names have been canceled from the list. The commander believes that some hands are working to get them out of the poliical field.

According to reports, a week ago 18 commanders of Hezb-e-islami Gulbudin Hekmatyar joined the peace process and turned themselves in to the government in Paktia province. The commanders came under the terms of the Afghan government's amnesty program. Most of these commanders returned home after living for years in Pakistan. After a meeting with Paktia governor Taniwal and coalition representatives, all 18 commanders signed statements pledging loyalty to Karzai's elected government, including an agreement not to possess heavy weapons or take up arms against the Afghan government or coalition forces.