Thursday, August 5th, 2021
Fight against the Taliban
Does Kabul make a pact with ex-warlord?
As part of the Northern Alliance, in 2001 he supported the USA in its mission in Afghanistan. The former warlord Dostum is now back in his homeland to consult with the government. It is possible that the 67-year-old will lead his militia against the Taliban again.
In view of the advance of the Taliban in the Hindu Kush, the notorious warlord and ex-Vice-President Abdul Raschid Dostum has returned to Afghanistan. Dostum arrived in Kabul on Wednesday evening and met with high-level government officials to discuss security in the northern Jausjan province, his spokesman said. Dostum stayed in Turkey for months, where he was presumably receiving medical treatment. “He is waiting to meet President Ashraf Ghani,” the spokesman said.
The powerful Uzbek Dostum is notorious in Afghanistan for exercising extreme violence and often switching sides during the decades-long conflict in the country. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he supported the US military operation in Afghanistan. As part of the so-called Northern Alliance, his militias fought the Taliban.
Dostum was threatened with trial in Afghanistan
Dostum spent a large part of his tenure as Vice President in exile in Turkey because he was threatened with kidnapping, ill-treatment and rape proceedings in Afghanistan. Apparently, Kabul is now relying on the troops of the former warlord to push back the Taliban in the north.
The Afghan armed forces are currently fighting on several fronts against the Taliban, which are continuing their offensives on several provincial capitals. The situation in Laschkar Gah, the capital of the southern Helmand province, is particularly serious. According to the UN, dozens of civilians have been killed there in the past few days.
Since the start of the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, the Islamists have conquered large parts of the country, but so far no major cities. The month-long talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government in Qatar’s capital Doha have stalled.
.