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Rumsfeld finds signs of progress in Afghanistan BY ROBERT BURNS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MAZAR-E-SHARIF, AFGHANI STAN — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld took a ride Thursday on Afghanistan’s bumpy road to recovery, finding modest signs of /' imgress alongside grim re vulaiders the country remains torn by violence and crammed with weaponry. Rival Afghan warlords, re sponsible for much of the violence, are disarming only slowly, ac cording to a British military com mander, and there has been a Taliban resurgence two years af ter that group’s rule ended. Suspected militants ambushed a convoy of government census workers in the southwest on Thursday, killing one and wound ing others. Rumsfeld, making his fourth trip to Afghanistan since the Taliban’s fall, met for the first time with northern Afghanistan’s two major warlords, welcoming them warmly. Afterward, he said ■the swas satisfied they were mov toward disarmament of their rival armies — a step considered critical to extending the central government’s authority beyond Kabul, the capital. “Each of them has initiated that process,” Rumsfeld told reporters. “It’s under way and that is a very good thing. At what pace it will proceed I guess remains to be seen, but we’re pleased that they've agreed to do so.” Underscoring the country’s fragile security, even in Kabul, a rocket exploded in a field near the U.S. Embassy two hours after Rumsfeld met with President Hamid Karzai in another part of the city. No one was injured in the explosion, blamed on Taliban fighters or their ally, renegade brin warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Attacks by pro-Taliban and pro al-Qaida militants have increased in southern and eastern Afghanistan, forcing U.N. andVe lief agencies to cut back their work. Here in the poor and desolate north, where the war tides first turned against the Taliban in November 2001, Rumsfeld raced through a dusty haze in a caravan of SUVs to a British Army com pound, where he met with Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammed, the two major north ern Afghanistan warlords. Their collaboration with U.S. special forces after the American invasion in October 2001 made it possible to dismantle the Taliban relatively quickly. But the war lords are now seen in Washington and Kabul as an impediment to unifying the country, which has yet to establish a national army or national police force. Col. Dickie Davis, the British commander of a “provincial re construction team” that is at tempting to use both civilian and military tools to improve securi ty and quell factional rivalries, told Rumsfeld that Dostum was “dragging his feet.” So far, Dostum has given up the military units he trusts least, while maintaining most of his heavy artillery and armor, Davis said. Rumsfeld told Davis he could understand Dostum’s reluctance to surrender the foundation of his power. “I don’t think his position is un reasonable,” Rumsfeld said. At a joint news conference later in Kabul with Karzai, Rumsfeld said he had made it clear to Dostum and Mohammed that the United States sees the disarma ment and disbanding of regional armies as “an important step for this country” if it is to gain politi cal stability and prosperity to avoid becoming a haven once again for terrorist groups like Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida. “Their response was certainly positive and appropriate,” the de fense secretary said. During the warlords’ meeting with Rumsfeld, Mohammed said he was proud to have been the first to give up heavy weapons. A Rumsfeld aide who was in the closed meeting quoted Dostum as acknowledging with a smile, “Our side is a little slower, but we’ll co operate without any doubt.” The aide, who spoke on condi tion he not be identified, said Rumsfeld told the warlords they must carry through with their pledges “for the good of the Afghan people.” As he was driven through the rutted streets of Mazar-e-Sharif, Rumsfeld could see open sewer trenches, ramshackle shops and abject poverty. Outside the city, his caravan passed burned out carcasses of Soviet-era military ve hicles, land mine warnings and other reminders of the decades of war this country endured. In Kabul, Rumsfeld met with Karzai at the presidential palace, which was ringed with heavy U.S. security, including sharpshooters atop the building. At an outdoor news conference, Karzai said he realized that “war lordism” remains an obstacle to full sovereignty for Afghanistan, but he said it is “being tackled ag gressively.” Rumsfeld was scheduled to travel Friday to Uzbekistan, which played an important role as a base for U.S. forces during the Afghan war, as well as to Georgia, the for mer Soviet republic that is in po litical turmoil. Solicitor questions legality of Stratford High drug bust BY BRUCE SMITH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GOOSE CREEK, S.C. - Solicitor Ralph Hoisington asked state Attorney General Henry McMaster on Thursday to inves tigate whether any laws were bro ken when police swept through <Kiratford High School looking for Presiigs, pointing guns at students and ordering them to the floor. The prosecutor said that after reviewing surveillance tapes and a 200-page State Law Enforcement Division report he has questions about the Nov. 5 incident. "While I am confident the goals of the Goose Creek Police Department were appropriate, the actual methods employed by cer tain officers were ill-advised,” Hoisington said. Hoisington also asked SLED to share its investigation with the U.S. attorney’s office and FBI to determine whether federal crimi nal violations occurred. Surveillance cameras showed rtth lents on the floor while officers guns drawn looked for drugs. Police checked 107 students and briefly restrained about a dozen. Fourteen officers and a dog took part in the sweep in this bedroom community of about 29,000 about 20 miles northwest of Charleston. School officials contacted police after reports of marijuana sales on the campus. Police said the dog sniffed drug residue on 12 book bags but found no drugs. No one was arrested. Some parents have defended school officials for getting tough with drugs while others have crit icized police tactics. “We’re talking about children. We’re not talking about adults,” said Sharon Smalls who said her son, a freshmen, had a gun pointed »*-his head. “It should never be ac est wable for an adult. You go to jail if you point a gun at somebody.” Hoisington said he was “ap palled” when he saw the video tapes. “The students are not at war with the police and it shouldn’t ap pear that way,”.he said. He said he could not conclude with certainty the police actions were legally justified. Because he has to prosecute cases brought by the local police, Hoisington said he asked McMaster to investigate. The attorney general could con duct his own investigation or as sign the matter to another prose cator from another part of the state, Hoisington said. The attorney general’s office had not received the information or SLED’s report as of Thursday, said spokesman Trey Walker. There was no timetable for when a decision would be made, he said. Mayor Michael Heitzler said town officials were upset by the video of the drug sweep broadcast nationwide. “I know what the images are. I don’t know what the cause of the images are,” he said, adding there has been no disciplinary action against any police officers. “Because the investigation has not been concluded, I haven’t come to any premature judgments about any personnel action,” he said. He said the town will learn from the experience and is contacting other towns and cities to see how they deal with drugs in schools. I m University of South Carolina Ski Program at Winterplace Ski Resort We are pleased to announce the establishment of a special University of South Carolina Ski Program which is being made available bv Winterplace Ski Resort, near Beckley, West Virginia. USC students, faculty and staff wishing to take advantage of this special ski program must present their USC II) card w hen purchasing lift tickets or renting ski equipment. 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WINTERPLACE (fHMt) SKI RESORT I sandals 4S» 25% off 1111 ShoeMajrket I fc ' 11 1 I — ill I hi I^M I) III M II I I In 11 I I 11 | | | 11 ii'^M ii 11IIMI Parking CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “The thing to keep in mind,” he said, “is that as of right now we are doing very little proactive en forcement. We are primarily still responding to complaints. So, you know, if someone hasn’t com plied within 180 days, it’s not like we’re knocking on their door on day 181 to say you haven’t done what you’re supposed to.” Before issuing a citation, in spectors from the city Department of Planning and Services issue a warning notice, a copy of city ordinance 2003-021 and a cover letter explaining it. “Generally speaking,” it says, “a person may no longer park a ve hicle upon the grass or dirt of their front yard. In an effort to improve the image of its residen tial neighborhoods, the city now requires a person to clearly mark their driveway and parking space(s) and improve these areas with pavement, gravel, or mulch. The size of these areas is subject to limitation.” Mylott said it shouldn’t be dif ficult for landlords to comply with the new ordinance because City Council is aware of the costs of putting down asphalt or concrete “and so what they said was that an improved surface could be something as minimal as pine straw, gravel, wood chips.” “It’s to keep grass surfaces from becoming mud holes,” he said, “so, they thought, you know, throw down some pine straw, keep it in place and that’ll V do it.” Because the compliance dead line only recently expired, no ci tations have yet been written. But Mylott warns residents not to take advantage of the city’s le niency. “Issuing a citation is my last resort; orders are passed down to my building inspectors,” he said.” If somebody says, you know, ‘You’ve given me a week, can I take 10 days?’ — no prob lem. As with any zoning viola tion, my goal is compliance, not to make money. “However, if it begins to be come a game, we’re gonna get out there and start ticketing. As with any city ordinance, my goal is compliance.” Comments.on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com WORKING FOR STUDENTS WHO WORK FOR US. UPS DELIVERS EDUCATION Work Out While You Work .'I!.... Interested part-time applicants should contact United Parcel Service 803-822-6294 an equal opportunity employer, m/f/h/v i *2 OFF i J ANY INK-JET REFILL ; i i i i I Not valid with any other offer. Offer expires 2/29/04. 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