Now brutal warlord holds key to Afghan poll (Rashid Dostum)

[IndianaGreen]

I am sure we still got DUers that remember way back in 2002 and the psychopath warlord named Rashid Dostum. He is now on our side, or rather, he is on the side of our man in Kabul, Hamid Karzai. Vietnam had its Diem. Afghanistan has its Karzai. This won't end well, unless one is in the opium trade!

Now brutal warlord holds key to Afghan poll

Election overshadowed by Taliban threats and intervention of notorious mujahedin

By Jerome Starkey in Kabul and Kim Sengupta in Nad-e-Ali, Helmand

Tuesday, 18 August 2009

As campaigning ended yesterday for elections that could determine both the future of Afghanistan and the role of British troops there, the outcome threatened to hang on the impact of renewed Taliban intimidation and the return to the fray of a former warlord, notorious for savage acts of brutality and violence.

The Taliban warned that anyone whose fingers were stained with indelible ink, the tell-tale sign of having voted, risked having their digits chopped off. Hundreds of letters have also been sent out in the old Taliban capital Kandahar, warning people to stay away from the polling stations or face a wave of suicide attacks and "new" unspecified tactics.

But on the side of President Hamid Karzai, the pro-Western incumbent, there are equally worrying signs. The return of General Rashid Dostum, a politically treacherous ex-warlord, has heightened fears of yet another vicious cycle of bloodshed and lawlessness. Forced to flee Afghanistan last year after claims that he brutalised a political rival, General Dostum is – to the horror of Western diplomats – now emerging as a key player who could be instrumental in delivering an election victory for the President.

Best known for allegedly overseeing a massacre of 2,000 Taliban prisoners following the US-led invasion in 2001, General Dostum controlled large swaths of northern Afghanistan for years. He remains the de facto leader of the country's ethnic Uzbeks and his return is likely to consolidate their vote behind Mr Karzai. But the warlord's triumphant return from Turkey on Sunday has exposed Mr Karzai to renewed accusations that even if he wins the election he will remain in hock to thugs and human rights abusers.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/now-brutal-warlord-holds-key-to-afghan-poll-1773467.html