As Jalalabad mourns, Qadir's legacy remains unfixed

Golnaz Esfandiari 7/08/02

One by one, the women of Jalalabad entered the residence of Haji Qadir's wife to pay condolences to the dead politician's female relatives. Qadir, the ex-governor of Jalalabad and a veteran leader in eastern Afghanistan, had just started working as Minster of Public Works and Vice President when two unknown assailants doused his car with bullets on July 6. On July 7 in her mansion, Qadir's wife rejected consolation.

"You tell me, what can a lonely woman like me do now in this world?" asked Khelo, the 44-old wife, as other women and children wept around her. In the background, a mullah was reciting a special prayer for the dead. A cousin of Qadir's, she had arrived from Germany four months ago. The governor had given her temporary lodging in a newly refurbished old mansion, easily the most palatial building in the province. Despite his sometimes-brutal reputation, many in this house portrayed Qadir as a man who loved his family. His brother, Abdul Haq, died in an effort to battle with the then-ruling Taliban in October 2001. His son-in-law drove the car that attackers destroyed on July 6. Perhaps in part due to these family ties, many in Jalalabad who never met Qadir wept openly for him after his death.

Of course, this was no ordinary family. It was common knowledge in Kabul that Qadir played a key role in Hamid Karzai's two-year government, which began work in late June. Coming from a respected and powerful ethnic Pashtun clan and boasting a resume that included battles against Soviet forces in the 1980s, Qadir brought Karzai the support of many Pashtuns in the east. (Though Karzai himself is ethnically Pashtun, most of the cabinet reflects the ethnically Tajik leadership of the old Northern Alliance, which fought the Taliban before the American-led campaign began.) Qadir was so trusted by the Northern Alliance leaders that Yunus Qanooni, an Alliance leader, lobbied hard to get the older warrior a prime government post. Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, another Northern Alliance veteran, said on July 7 that he and Qadir "had been like brothers to each other" since 1998. Abdullah had been en route to France when he heard the news. He immediately wanted to cancel his trip but had apparently been told by Karzai that he should continue on.

In addition to vocal supporters, Qadir had powerful enemies. Abdullah told me Qadir had expressed concern about possible al Qaida uprisings in Jalalabad; another former deputy, Haji Zaman Khan, reportedly vowed revenge after Qadir ordered his quarters inspected earlier this year. Whatever his rivalries, his experience – as a fighter, governor, Pashtun leader and overseer of efforts to ban poppy cultivation from Afghan fields – will be hard for Karzai's government to reinstall.

A few minutes after the funeral, many Jalalabad elders and potentates met to decide on strategy and a possible heir. Haji Din Mohammed, another of Qadir's brothers, apparently emerged as a possible replacement. But Mohammed, another educated veteran, does not enjoy universal support. "It's not possible. He is not good enough and Karzai also doesn't have a personal interest in him either," said one relative who asked for anonymity. "We much prefer to give our strong support to Mohammed's appointment as governor of Jalalabad," this person said.

Karzai has not announced a successor for Qadir, though the government has ordered an inquiry into his killing in conjunction with the International Security Assistance Force. Whoever ends up with the Public Works job will be hard pressed to match Qadir's stature – or capacity for controversy. During the Loya Jirga, Qadir negotiated constantly with Karzai, Qanooni and Abdullah. At one point, he told me with exasperation that he was not taking a job at the Interior Ministry on account of some pressure. He was referring to longstanding rumors that he might have been tied to the provinces' flourishing opium production during his governorship. "This was a lie. He was a clean and honest man," said one his relatives, Abdullah Mojadadi. Qadir promised to stop drug smuggling, and had taken steps to make land unsuitable for poppy cultivation. Many observers don't rule out the possibility that drug lords, angry about his newly implemented eradication policy, had a hand in his killing.

On July 7, most people in Jalalabad's streets wore black and seemed sad and bewildered. "Can you tell me what I have to do here without him?" Khelo cried, asking for an answer. I looked at the beautiful emerald wedding ring on her hand. Like the circumstances of Qadir's assassination, the answers to these questions seem hard to divine. Afghanistan, like Qadir's mansion, is dangerous even where it is beautiful.

Editor's Note: Camelia Entekhabi-Fard is a journalist who specializes in Afghan and Iranian affairs. She is currently in Afghanistan reporting for EurasiaNet.

Posted July 8, 2002 © Eurasianet