KABUL, Sept 9: The governor of the eastern Afghan province of Khost said his forces remained in control of the provincial capital on Monday after foiling a counter-attack by renegade warlord Padshah Khan Zadran.

Zadran had launched a counter-attack on Khost on Monday, asking the residents to evacuate the town as his forces were preparing to launch a big offensive.

But provincial Governor Hakim Taniwal said the attack had been repulsed and calm had returned to the town, which lies 220kms southeast of Kabul, near the border with Pakistan.

“In the morning he had staged some skirmishes, but we foiled them and pushed them back,” he said while visiting Kabul. “I don’t have any casualty figure on his side, but we lost three people and seven others have been wounded.”

The Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said at least 15 fighters and civilians had been killed in Sunday’s fighting and more than 51 wounded in the town.

On Monday the AIP said Taniwal’s soldiers were in control and were urging people to reopen their businesses and remain calm.

On Sunday, Taniwal’s forces said they had taken control of key government buildings, including the governor’s office, which Zadran had been occupying illegally for months.

“I can’t seem him (Zadran) having the ability to retake Khost or pose any threat, but if he attacks the town with rockets that is his logic and if he does that then the Americans need to arrest him,” Taniwal said.

The fighting began when Taniwal’s forces attacked Zadran’s positions on Sunday after state-run local radio mistakenly reported that the burly, moustachioed Zadran had been arrested by US troops.

Instead, the U.S. military said there had merely been a meeting on Sunday between Zadran and the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General Dan McNeill.

Colonel Roger King said McNeill had not talked to Zadran about the fighting or his grievances with the government, but about the placement of roadblocks and checkpoints in the province, which were impeding the flow of coalition forces.

He also said that there were no plans to take military action against the renegade warlord.

“The only way we would take direct action against Padshah Khan is if he took direct action that we know about against coalition forces, threatens us or impedes us in doing our work,” King told reporters at Bagram air base.

“Which is why General McNeill had the meeting with him, was to let him know that ‘Hey, this is starting to encroach on what we do. You need to take it down or suffer consequences’.”

King said a brief firefight had broken out between U.S. forces and some Afghans on Sunday when tracer fire was directed at Chapman Air Field, the U.S. special forces base in Khost.

“The firing was returned, then the firing stopped,” King said. “It all lasted less than five minutes.”

“We’ve had tracer fire at Chapman in the past and we may well have it in the future,” he added.

Zadran became a key ally of the Americans after the fall of the Taliban last year, allowing his forces to be used to hunt for Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies.

But he has openly challenged the authority of Afghan President Hamid Karzai after being ousted as governor of Paktia province early this year.

In revenge for that ousting, Zadran showered Paktia’s provincial capital of Gardez with rockets in May, killing more than 30 people. He then moved his base to Khost, where he has been ever since.

Zadran staged several anti-Karzai demonstrations last month.—Reuters