KABUL, Sept 21: The disarmament of some 100,000 Afghan militiamen could start as early as next month following a long-delayed reshuffle of the defence ministry, United Nations officials said on Sunday.

UN senior adviser Sultan Aziz said disarmament could begin in late October with pilot programmes to disarm 1,000 men each in the northern city of Kunduz, Gardez in the southeast and the main northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

“Within that first month we should be able to cover both Kunduz and Gardez and then we would move to Mazar,” he told reporters.

The disarmament drive could then move to southern city Kandahar and the capital Kabul from early December.

President Hamid Karzai on Saturday announced key new appointments to the defence ministry, under a reform drive aimed at allowing the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of militiamen, many of whom are from private armies loyal to warlords and anti-Taliban Northern Alliance figures.

The UN had called for urgent reform of the ethnic Tajik-dominated ministry, saying it needed to be more representative of Afghanistan’s ethnic mix before disarmament could start.

Eight appointments were given to members of the Pakhtoon majority, who feel they have been sidelined in the Tajik-dominated post-Taliban administration.

The deputy ministerial position has been given to a Pakhtoon, Major General Farooq Wardak.

He replaced General Bismullah Khan, a close ally of powerful Tajik Defence Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, who was made army chief.

Five Tajiks, four Hazaras, two Uzbeks, one Baluchi and one Nuristani were also named to new positions, the ministry said.

Fahim had been accused of packing the ministry with fellow Tajiks from the powerful anti-Taliban Northern Alliance faction which dominates the government of Karzai, himself a Pashtun.

Militiamen had been reluctant to hand over weapons while the ministry was dominated by a rival faction.

The disarmament drive is aimed at disabling private warlord armies and militia factions who are accused of fuelling rife insecurity through ongoing clashes.

“We want to focus on those who are factional groups because they’re the people that are threatening people in different areas,” Aziz said.

The biggest challenge would be finding jobs for tens of thousands of former militiamen, he said.—AFP