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September 15, 2004
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Aid workers dismayed after attacks in Afghan city of Herat


HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) -- International aid workers in the western Afghan city of Herat expressed dismay Tuesday after being targeted in weekend rioting that forced many humanitarian staff to flee the city.

Offices belonging to international organizations and the United Nations were looted and torched when supporters of governor Ismael Khan went on the rampage after the regional warlord was kicked out of office at the weekend.

The targeted attacks forced the United Nations and several nongovernmental agencies to withdraw some 60 staff from Herat on Monday.

Four people were killed and more than 50 others including three U.S. soldiers were injured in the clashes.

"Oh my God what have they done to our office," said Mohammed Shoib from the International Organization for Migration as he returned to work Monday.

His office was reduced to ash and blackened walls.

"The rioters throwing stones at the soldiers was the most scary part because they had to defend themselves and that could kill people," said Shokrullah, who uses only one name, as he helped his injured brother walk to hospital.

Khan loyalists were angered by President Hamid Karzai's decision Saturday to sack the governor, in what was seen as a move to stretch Kabul's shaky hold on power beyond the capital to the provinces ahead of October's presidential vote.

The United Nations' spokesman in Afghanistan, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, said the targeted attack was the worst violence he had seen directed at international organizations since the Taliban were forced from power. "I have been here for two and a half years and I have never seen anything like this."

Deputy UN special representative in Afghanistan, Filippo Grande, said the damage to offices of the UN Assistance mission in Afghanistan was among the worst he had ever seen inflicted on premises used by the world body.

"I've seen in my life many destroyed UN premises but I have hardly ever seen the type of destruction that I saw.

"The office is in ashes, everything is burned, they spilt gasoline and threw matches and the whole office does not exist anymore," said Grande.

"Other aid agencies... the Afghan independent human rights commission, the Danish aid committee and the International Federation of Red Cross societies, all the agencies suffered attacks either of their offices or of their accommodation or both," said Grande. "The attacks where targeted, that is something that cannot be disputed," he said. "The houses which have been attacked are the only houses attacked, looted, and burned in a particular area."

"This was evidently linked to the political changes ... and the one manner to express protest in a way that gets a lot of visibility is to attack international organizations," he said.

Khan appealed for calm on provincial television at the request of Karzai, in an attempt to end the violence.

"I hope with patience, tolerance and a single aim you people ensure security and stability in your country," said Khan. A curfew was imposed on Sunday to quell the simmering tensions.

But Khan, seen to have run the province as his private fiefdom, was hesitant to disarm thousands of his private militia forces.

Abdul Razaq from Herat hospital said in between treating the wounded that getting rid of Khan had been necessary.

"It was total warlordism, it was the right decision by the central government to change the governor.

"The central government must have the authority to change and replace its governors so what are these demonstrations for?" said Razaq.

Herat province, some 700 kilometers (more than 400 miles) west of Kabul, shares a long border with Iran and Turkmenistan and is among Afghanistan's most prosperous and wealthiest.

The ancient city of Herat has been among a handful of stable parts of Afghanistan since the U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

Sayed Mohammad Khairkhwa, the new governor of Herat, said he hoped that aid agency staff would return soon.

"I assured them that it will not be repeated again, we will do anything that we can to ensure their safety," he told AFP, saying that aid workers were desperately needed in the province.



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