KABUL: Afghanistan’s interim government vowed on Thursday to use military force if necessary to end a standoff with a powerful militia leader before a crucial assembly opens next month to choose a new national leader.

The threat reflected the government’s frustration with Bacha Khan, a regional commander who has resisted attempts to remove him from power in eastern Afghanistan. The conflict has been particularly delicate since that region is the focus of the hunt by US and allied forces for suspected Al Qaeda terrorists.

Khan “has been given an ultimatum. He needs to agree to the terms laid out by the interim administration,” Omar Samad, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, told a news conference. “If he doesn’t, any and every measure will be taken to resolve this issue, including military.”

The government of interim leader Hamid Karzai had previously set a deadline of last week for Khan’s surrender and had put government troops on alert for a possible assault.

On Thursday, Samad said the deadline was now a “fluid date.” But, he added, the government didn’t want the dispute to mar a key national assembly, the loya jirga, scheduled to open on June 10 in Kabul.

“I would expect action taken before the loya jirga” if Khan doesn’t capitulate, said Samad.

Khan has feuded with Karzai for months, a vivid illustration of the Afghan leader’s difficulty in exerting authority over a country that has become increasingly fragmented.

Any military assault, however, could touch off a wider conflict and hinder the search by US soldiers for suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban militia hiding in the eastern region near the Pakistani border. The US military has been working closely with Khan’s forces and allies in the area to capture the fugitives.

Calls to Khan’s satellite phone were not answered on Thursday. But in recent interviews, he has given no sign of backing down.

Karzai sacked Khan as governor of Paktia province ae after the veteran fighter launched a battle against local enemies that killed 60 people; Khan also claims control of two other provinces, including Khost, where a new governor appointed by Karzai is cautiously trying to establish a foothold.

Last month, Khan tried to recapture power as his forces fired rockets on Paktia’s capital of Gardez, killing about 30 civilians. The government then ordered his arrest.

The Afghan government and some US lawmakers have urged an expansion of the Kabul-based international peacekeeping force to curtail local militia leaders like Khan. The force of about 4,500 members from two dozen nations has been patrolling the capital since January to limit violence after the US-led ouster of the Taliban government.

But the United Nations, which authorized the creation of the force, and contributing nations have not shown any inclination to expand its mandate. (The UN Security Council voted on Thursday to extend the peacekeepers’ stay by six months after June 20 but rejected Afghan pleas to deploy the force to a wider area.)

On Thursday, the head of the peacekeeping force said it would turn its attention to preventing attacks against the June 10-15 loya jirga, which is to name a transitional leader to rule Afghanistan until the end of next year.

“It’s reasonable to assume that as we move toward the loya jirga, there will be those who move to disrupt the process, interfere with the process. And therefore I think we have to be ready for an increase in the level of terrorism,” said British Maj. Gen. John McColl, head of the International Security Assistance Forces.—Dawn/The Washington Post News Service.