KABUL -- The fragile nature of Afghanistan's peace was evident yesterday, as French peacekeepers were shot at, a plot to assassinate the returned king was uncovered and parents were threatened with death for educating their children.
Still, Afghan refugees continued streaming home by the tens of thousands from camps abroad, perhaps the best indication many believe their country is moving away from decades of war.
One French soldier sustained a slight leg injury Friday night when gunmen opened fire on his patrol near the Kabul airport, said Capt. Serge Khun, spokesman for the 18-country, 4,500-member international peacekeeping force responsible for security in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
The French patrol fired back but the four attackers escaped, Khun said. The wounded peacekeeper resumed his duties yesterday, said Maj. Can Oz, another spokesman.
At Bagram air base, 65 kilometres north of Kabul, British Royal Marines said yesterday they received reports assassins posing as journalists might try to kill former Afghan king Mohammad Zaher Shah, who returned Thursday from 29 years of exile in Rome.
"There is a threat against the king," spokesman Lt.-Col. Paul Harradine said. Harradine gave no more details, other than to say there are "many factions" that would like to kill the former king.
U.S. military spokesman Capt. Steven O'Connor said he was unaware of any threats on Zaher Shah's life. An aide to the deposed king, Azim Nasser-Zia, shook his head and walked away when asked whether he heard about an assassination plot.
Zaher Shah, overthrown by a 1973 palace coup, was stabbed several times in Rome 11 years ago by a man posing as a journalist. Also, two men posing as journalists killed popular northern alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massood last September, only two days before the terrorist attacks in the United States.
The former king was treated yesterday to folk dancing by about 100 tribal elders and other dignitaries at his Kabul house, participants said. The visitors beat drums and danced Attani Mili -- "national dance" -- in the two-storey house.
Leaflets threatening death to parents who send their children to school were found in Kandahar, once the spiritual headquarters of the deposed Taliban regime, which restricted education, an Afghan official said yesterday. Khalid Pashtun, spokesman for Kandahar Gov. Gul Agha, said the leaflets were an attempt to sabotage the interim regime that succeeded the Taliban in December. The leaflets said parents who send their children to school will be killed and their homes burned down.
Security forces have made some arrests concerning the leaflets, which surfaced in the last few days, Pashtun said. There was no indication who was distributing the leaflets but Pashtun blamed either the ousted Taliban or supporters of former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has opposed U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
-- Associated Press
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