Afghanistan's government began a belated drive today to disarm tens of thousands of factional fighters.
The main disarmament in the programme, seen as crucial to the country's stability ahead of landmark elections in September, started in Kabul with the handing over of 69 ageing and badly damaged Soviet-era surface-to-air-missiles and the decommissioning of 135 members of the 99th Rocket Brigade.
Deputy Defence Minister General Rahim Wardak said President Hamid Karzai's government would press ahead with the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme and warned that the central government would deal with anyone opposing the process.
Regional militias, formally allied to the central government, are seen undermining Mr Karzai's already weak control outside Kabul. They are adding to security headaches in a country suffering an Islamic militant insurgency by al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
DDR aims to disarm 40,000 armed men by the end of June. Most are remnants from the war against the Soviets and the Taliban. Heavy weapons will also be collected.
Under the foreign-funded pilot phase, which started last October, around 6,000 men were disarmed, reintegrated and given new job opportunities.
The main phase is designed to be completed by the end of June and should have started a month ago, but regional power brokers with large private armies have resisted the move, and it remains to be seen how their opposition can be tackled.