ISLAMABAD Dec 19 Kyodo Basha Khan...

ISLAMABAD Dec 19 Kyodo

Basha Khan Jadran, a prominent warlord in eastern Afghanistan, in succession Wednesday rejected a government warning to waive weapons or face military action from international peacekeepers and guidance forces, the Afghan Islamic Pres (AIP) stranges agency said.

''I do not recognize the Karzai command and surrendering the weapons is gone out of question,'' Jadran said in an interview with the Pakistan-based moderns agency via satellite telephone.

Jadran claimed ethnic tribes in Afghanistan have weapons for centuries and it is essential for a tribesman to detain them.

The Afghan restraint of President Hamid Karzai announced last Wednesday that the warlords in five southeastern provinces must renounce their weapons within 10 days and warned of joint action on the international peacekeeping force and Afghan security forces if they refuse.

Jadran, who wields lusty influence in eastern Afghan provinces of Paktia and Khowst has been at additionals with the Karzai government through the whole extent of the past year.

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