Afghans mark anniversary of victory over Soviets

KABUL — Afghan leaders marked the 18th anniversary of a Soviet-installed regime's collapse on Wednesday with a military parade and a call to militants to join the current government vying for power against the Taliban insurgency.

Afghan security forces marched in formation before a reviewing stand crowded with top government officials. Noticeably absent were President Hamid Karzai, who was attending a summit in Bhutan, and top mujahedeen commanders who led the country to victory in the late 1980s. It was unclear why they did not attend. Militants tried to assassinate Karzai at celebrations in 2008.

"We have come here to celebrate the victims of the jihad and also to remember those bloody years and how the nation stood and gained this victory, without strong weapons of the developed world, against a strong superpower," Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim said in the keynote address inside the heavily secured sport stadium.

Fahim spoke about the country's efforts to bolster the Afghan police and army forces and fight government corruption, but he talked mostly about national unity. "The only way to come out from the current situation is to believe and create a unity that cannot be infiltrated and a political situation where everybody speaks with the same voice," Fahim said.

He concluded by expressing hope that the upcoming peace conference, or jirga, late next month will successfully reach a national consensus for reconciling with the Taliban.

Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister who ran against Karzai in the last presidential election, said he was heartened to see the Afghan security forces parading in fresh uniforms. More than a dozen Afghan helicopters and planes flew low over the stadium during the ceremony. But he said he thought it was disrespectful to those who died for the mujahedeen leaders and Karzai to be no-shows.

"Karzai is president of the country and he's absent?" Abdullah said.

As the vice president spoke about peace in Kabul, violence continued across the nation.

In Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, a tribal elder was killed Wednesday in Arghandab district, according to district chief Haji Jabbar. In eastern Afghanistan, a roadside bomb hit a car, killing six civilians, including two children, said Mubariz Zadran, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Khost province. Also in Khost, insurgents attacked a police patrol in Sabari district. The Ministry of Interior said a policeman and four militants died in the fighting.