Word: dostum
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...same group of warlords—minus a few notable exceptions—are back to their old tricks. Do not be fooled by those pictures of Hamid Karzai posing with George Bush and Tony Blair. Everyone in Afghanistan knows that real power resides with people like Rashid Dostum, the ethnic Uzbek warlord who controls Mazar-i-Sharif; Ishmael Khan, ruler of Herat and recipient of Iranian tanks and money; and the exiled Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a religious fanatic who currently resides in Iran but who is rumored to be staging a comeback...
Hekmatyar and Dostum make Mullah Omar look like a Girl Scout. While he was prime minister of Afghanistan in a coalition government, Hekmatyar systematically shelled residential neighborhoods in Kabul. Dostum is well known in the region for torturing enemies, and journalists are already alleging that Dostum has been ethnically cleansing ethnic Pashtuns from his domain of Mazar-i-Sharif...
...Soviets lost more than 50,000 well-trained soldiers in Afghanistan. Getting rid of a warlord like Dostum or Khan might be even harder than defeating the Taliban. When U.S. forces fought the Taliban, they had the support of all the warlords because everybody despised Mullah Omar and Co. But these warlords have a knack for forging alliances—even among enemies, especially when foreigners try to impose their will on Afghanistan. Just ask the Russians...
...some areas, such fighting has already started. In the north around Mazar-i-Sharif, ethnic Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Hazara warlord Mohammed Mohaqiq have used the hunt for al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders as an excuse for a pogrom against Pashtuns. Human Rights Watch has documented 150 separate cases of looting, rape and killing in the area that have sent thousands of Pashtuns fleeing south. There are also persistent accusations that Afghan commanders are calling in U.S. air strikes against rivals, not terrorists. Meanwhile in Kabul, local factions have begun turning their newly acquired firepower on one another...
...lovely in Mazar. There are signs of the coming spring, and the stalls are stocked with fruit. Mazar appears prosperous, with traffic jams a commonplace because of the many nongovernmental organizations in town. But it's all a veil over a disintegrating situation. Mazar's warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum is engaging in a wave of ethnic cleansing against the area's Pashtun minority. There are continuing stories of rape, looting and pillage against them. On the surface, Mazar appears to have moved beyond the war, but it is a powder keg. Kabul, on the other hand, is clearly...