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WASHINGTON, August 21, 2006 (RFE/RL) — For years, northern Afghanistan has seen sporadic fighting between supporters of two long-time warlords, Abdul Rashid Dostum and General Abdul Malik. Now, though, the central government has indicated it has had enough, with Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel calling for the two men’s political parties to be disbanded.
He argues that the two parties — Dostum’s National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan (Hizb-e Junbish-e-Melli-ye Islami-ye Afghanistan), known as Junbish, and Malik’s Freedom Party of Afghanistan (Hizb-e Azadi-ye Afghanistan) — continue to maintain military wings and that these militia are responsible for the unrest in the northern province of Faryab.
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The Dasht-i-Leili Massacre: Eight Years On …
When you invade a country like Afghanistan it’s always better to do it with inside help. Paying off such help, of course, is a crucial part if it – whether it be through financial considerations, arms, agreeing to look the other way regarding poppy production, or promises regarding positions within the country following said invasion.
When it comes to Afghanistan post 9/11, General Abdul Rashid Dostum remains one of the most troubling Northern Alliance commanders tapped by the United States during the 2001 invasion. Mistrusted by the CIA, even though he was reportedly on their payroll at the time, he would be responsible for the most egregious war crime to take place in post 9/11 Afghanistan – the Dasht-i-Leili massacre – which the Obama Administration has, eight years after the fact, ordered to be investigated. While Dostun is no longer a general in the Afghan army given his role in the kidnapping of Akbar Bai, he retains significant influence within the Afghan Uzbek community.
KABUL — A notorious Afghan warlord accused of allowing the murder of hundreds, if not thousands, of prisoners and then destroying the evidence returned to Afghanistan as part of what appears to be a political deal brokered with President Hamid Karzai.
Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum arrived from Turkey just four days before the Afghan presidential elections, in which his support could be key to Karzai’s chances of securing more than 50 percent of the vote – the threshold for avoiding a second round of elections.
Karzai has come under criticism for consolidating his position by striking deals with warlords like Dostum and those suspected of connections to the country’s opium trade.
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(McClatchy) – US ambassador Karl Eikenberry said he’d heard rumors and read articles that the U.S. was secretly helping Afghanistan’s enemy with weapons and helicopters. He denounced those reports “as outrageous and baseless. We would never aid the terrorists that attacked us on September 11, that are killing our soldiers, your soldiers, and innocent Afghan civilians every day.”
A Karzai campaign team member said Karzai never meant to imply that the helicopters were American.
“We believe what the American ambassador has said, and that the helicopters don’t belong to America,” said Moen Marastyal, an Afghan parliament member who’s worked on the Karzai re-election campaign.
Afghan MI-17 helicopters…
Marastyal said that Karzai has been told he has two options: Either agree to form a coalition government or be forced into a runoff election as the final tally tosses out fraudulent votes.
In contrast, Marastyal said that Karzai is under pressure from his own supporters not to forge a coalition government. “We would have divisions in the government, and there would not be a good result.”
Analysis by US task force in 2003 when Bush/Cheney were the deciders …
… of course the Neocon administration wanted to please the Israeli Likud government of Sharon to “settle” the ME conflict once and for all by declaring the Palestinian drive for independenc as terrorism.
≈ Cross-posted from my diary — Paying the Price in Afghanistan ≈
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."So Dostum backs Karzai and has a deal with him and Dostum (who in the first prezzie election got quite a nice percent of the vote) is going to be taken on by the US. So not content with upsetting the Pashtun majority in the country by using the foreign election commission to force Karzai into a runoff, it is time to upset the large Uzbek minority too. Wonder who exaclty in the whole of Afghanistan will be friendly to the US and NATO. Better hope Karzai wins and nothing gets done to Dostrum or the Taleban are going to be laughing at this big time. No come to think of it they are already laughing at how utterly inept US intelligence and diplomatic action are.