Afghan warlords 'bigger threat than Taliban'

The warlords and private militias who were once regarded as the west’s staunchest allies in Afghanistan are now a greater threat to the country’s security than the Taliban, according to the interim president, Hamid Karzai. His claim comes in the wake of a decision to delay the presidential election for a second time and to postpone the parliamentary elections until next spring because of a sharp increase in violence. “The frustration that we have in this country is that progress has sometimes been stopped by private militias, life has been threatened by private militias, so it should not be tolerated,” he told the New York Times. “Without disarmament, the Afghan state will have really serious difficulties.”Full Story