Afghan Warlord's Ouster Prompts Violence

[Quetzal]

Afghan Warlord's Ouster Prompts Violence

KABUL, Afghanistan - Demonstrators broke into a U.N. compound in the western city of Herat on Sunday, a day after the Afghan government fired the city's warlord governor.

Hundreds of people angered by the ouster of Gov. Ismail Khan gathered outside the U.N. offices chanting slogans against U.S. troops and the Afghan government, witnesses said.

As the crowd grew, they broke through the gate, throwing rocks at vehicles and setting one afire. The intrusion sent U.N. staff scuttling into their on-site bunker, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said.

Earlier, the U.S. military reported that at least two people were injured late Saturday in scuffles with security forces trying to rescue two U.S. soldiers from a stone-throwing mob.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&ncid=721&e=10&u=/ap/20040912/ap_on_re_as/afghan_ousted_warlord

[Nambe]

1. "Warlord"? Gongsun Kang was a Warlord.

I haven't heard the UN complaining loudly about abuses by the regional leaders in Afghanistan. The seem to me to be more like governors or sherrifs. I met a sherrif in Texas that could rightfully be called a warlord but he's a republican so it doesn't count.

the word warlord has become a general pejorative term that refers to a person who has de facto military control of a subnational area by virtue of military force which is personally obedient to that warlord.