Rumsfeld Surveys Recovery in Afghanistan: "MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan � Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld (search) took a ride Thursday on Afghanistan's bumpy road to recovery, finding modest signs of progress alongside grim reminders the country remains torn by violence and crammed with weaponry.
Rival Afghan warlords, responsible for much of the violence, are disarming only slowly, according to a British military commander, and there has been a Taliban (search) resurgence two years after that group's rule ended. Suspected militants ambushed a convoy of government census workers in the southwest on Thursday, killing one and wounding others.
Rumsfeld, making his fourth trip to Afghanistan since the Taliban's fall, met for the first time with northern Afghanistan's two major warlords, welcoming them warmly. Afterward, he said he was satisfied they were moving toward disarmament of their rival armies -- a step considered critical to extending the central government's authority beyond Kabul, the capital. "
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan � Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld (search) took a ride Thursday on Afghanistan's bumpy road to recovery, finding modest signs of progress alongside grim reminders the country remains torn by violence and crammed with weaponry.
Rival Afghan warlords, responsible for much of the violence, are disarming only slowly, according to a British military commander, and there has been a Taliban (search) resurgence two years after that group's rule ended. Suspected militants ambushed a convoy of government census workers in the southwest on Thursday, killing one and wounding others.
Rumsfeld, making his fourth trip to Afghanistan since the Taliban's fall, met for the first time with northern Afghanistan's two major warlords, welcoming them warmly. Afterward, he said he was satisfied they were moving toward disarmament of their rival armies -- a step considered critical to extending the central government's authority beyond Kabul, the capital. "
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