Herat in the shadow of Khan

By Andrew North BBC Kabul correspondent

After violent clashes in the Afghan city of Herat, its new governor will be in no doubt about the mammoth task ahead of him, as he seeks to restore order just weeks before the presidential elections.

Afghan National Army soldiers are guarding the new governor

It was several hours before the plane left Kabul. With reports of spreading violence in Herat, many thought it would never take off.

And when the governor arrived, it was a convoy almost fit for a US president that took him into the city, guarded by heavily armed soldiers from the new Afghan national army.

But this was ultimately an American-run operation. The hundreds of Afghan troops now in the city had all arrived in US aircraft.

The governor was driven straight to a ceremony at Ismael Khan's offices, which was supposed to mark his official takeover.

The choice of venue was symbolic, the ornate hall in which Khan - the self-styled Amir of Herat - used to literally hold court.

Medieval scene

I was in this same hall just three months ago, watching the white-bearded former mujahideen leader receive petitions from hundreds of poor local residents. Women were enveloped in blue burkhas as they made their pleas.

Ismael Khan remains in his home guarded by his militia soldiers

It was a weekly event, and an almost medieval scene, except that for much of the time Ismael Khan had a mobile phone clamped to his ear, while listening to the requests with the other.

Although these aspects of his rule attracted plenty of criticism, Khan also won praise for his reconstruction efforts - Herat is in much better shape than many other Afghan cities and a lot more secure - or was.

This time though, the only sign of Ismael Khan was his picture on the wall.

But as Mohammed Khairkhwa began speaking, a crackle of gunfire echoed through the hall from the streets nearby. Then again.

The governor was trying to ignore it, while the soldiers felt for the safety catches on their weapons.

As soon as the ceremony was over, the governor was swept away in a screech of tyres, not to be seen again for the rest of the day.

Just one week before this, he was Afghanistan's ambassador to the Ukraine. I wondered if he was missing it.

We found a taxi and headed off to find out what was going on.

Smouldering remains

The worst of the clashes were over, but small knots of youths were still taunting the hundreds of Afghan and US soldiers out on the streets, throwing stones then running for cover.

The UN compounds were attacked by hundreds of demonstrators

After negotiating several checkpoints, we made it to the main area of United Nations compounds attacked by Ismael Khan's supporters earlier in the day. The damage was far worse than anyone expected.

The front of the main UN mission building was still smouldering. Next door, the UN refugee agency had been ransacked, office equipment strewn and smashed all over the grounds.

Nearby, another compound was in an even worse state, every room gutted by fire, every vehicle a charred shell.

Yet buildings right next door were completely unscathed, not even a rock over the wall, one occupant told me.

There was no doubt, it had all been deliberately targeted. Many people in the city were pointing to Ismael Khan's longstanding antipathy to the UN.

One question that occurred immediately was that with all the planning that went into this move, why did no one consider the possibility of the UN becoming a target? Apparently none of the compounds had extra guards that day.

And why, many people are asking, did President Karzai and his US backers make this move now, with just three weeks to go before the elections which the UN is organising?

But as the authorities sought to restore order, who was it that Karzai and the American ambassador in Kabul called on to appeal for calm - not their newly appointed governor, but the man they had just sacked - Ismael Khan.

Fragile calm

By the next day, the city had quietened down. But it was still far from clear who was in charge - with the ousted governor still in his home, guarded by his own militia soldiers, still hanging on to their weapons.

Calm is reported to have been restored to Herat, for now

And that is another question no one has answered. Are these troops going to be disarmed, and by who?

Governor Khairkhwa did not seem to have the answer when I found him in another defining Ismael Khan location, a hilltop guesthouse overlooking the city, where he used to entertain VIPs.

Again, I had been there myself a few months ago - not as an important visitor I should add - rather watching Ismael Khan greet the director of a key United Nations agency.

Heaps of water melon and other fruit were on the tables. How things change.

But now, not only is this guesthouse a temporary base for the new governor, it is also serving as a US command post. A large military satellite dish was outside and American soldiers were sleeping nearby.

Inside, troops were hunched over laptops and radios and Ismael Khan's soft-pile carpets were getting a punishing from a constant to-and-fro of boots.

And that may be another problem for the new man in Herat, as he tries to assert his authority, demonstrating he is his own man and not someone installed and protected by American power.

The struggle for control of one of Afghanistan's most important cities is not over yet.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Thursday, 16 September, 2004 at 1100 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.