KABUL, Aug 5: An international independent think-tank warned on Tuesday that Afghanistan’s political process could end in failure unless it addressed the perceived alienation of its ethnic Pakhtoon population.

“A key obstacle to enduring peace in Afghanistan is the perception among ethnic Pashtuns that they are not meaningfully represented in the central government, particularly in its security institutions,” said the International Crisis Group in a report titled “Afghanistan: the problem of Pashtun alienation.”

The ousted Taliban drew most of their support from Pashtuns, who comprise around 40 per cent of Afghanistan’s population and are concentrated in the south and east.

Since the Taliban’s toppling by US-led forces, Pashtuns have been targets of ethnic violence in the north and west and “heavy-handed search operations” by US-led forces, who also collaborate with “abusive” local commanders and warlords, the ICG said.

“Unless measures are taken to address Pashtun grievances and ensure that a more representative government emerges from the 2004 election, the political process could end in failure,” said ICG’s Afghanistan analyst, Vikram Parekh.

While President Hamid Karzai is Pashtun, Afghanistan’s defence ministry is dominated by a powerful ethnic Tajik faction, which has made many of the country’s 100,000 militiamen reluctant to hand over their weapons in a disarmament programme that has yet to start.

“Unless the national security institutions are perceived as representing the population as a whole, their efforts at disarmament and demobilization are unlikely to find popular support,” the report said.

Presidential elections set for June next year would be critical, the report said.

“The removal of abusive regional authorities and their replacement by educated professionals who are perceived to be neutral actors will go a long way toward rebuilding support for the central government.”

The ICG also called for the extension of the peacekeeping International Security Assistance Force beyond Kabul to the provinces where security remains a major headache.

DISARMAMENT: A senior commander in northern Afghanistan said on Tuesday he would not hand in weapons to a rival faction collecting arms in the region, underlining the difficulties the authorities face in disarming the country.