Top U.N. envoys visited two of Afghanistan’s most powerful warlords on Wednesday and told them to end their bloody rivalry and unite behind the central government of President Hamid Karzai. Diplomats from the 15 U.N. Security Council members, on a five-day trip to Afghanistan, met ethnic Uzbek commander General Abdul Rashid Dostum and his main opponent for power in the north, ethnic Tajik Ustad Atta Mohammad. Forces loyal to the old rivals have been responsible for a series of clashes in and around the key northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif since the fall of the Taliban regime two years ago, and there is little sign of the violence subsiding. In the latest flare up last week, at least five troops from the two factions died in what one commander described as “fierce fighting” in the Sar-i-Pul province southwest of Mazar city. More than 60 people were killed or injured in a clash last month involving tanks and artillery. Full Story
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