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Warlord Returns to Afghanistan - Controversy - to support Karzai
In a highly controversial move, President Hamid Karzai has returned General Abdul Rashid Dostum to Afghanistan from exile in Turkey.
Dostum is linked in a large part to the Opium Trade and the alleged murder of thousands of Al Qaeida and Taliban prisoners.
Karzai who appears not to have the 50% needed to win the elections in the first round is trying to avoid a run-off election. Karzai hopes that Dostum will bring him the necessary votes to move past 50%.
General Dostum comes with a considerable amount of baggage. There are allegations that Dostum directed the killing of about 2000 prisoners and later dug them back up to destroy the evidence.
Karzai says there is nothing hindering Dostum’s return as there are no legal actions pending against him.
As Dostum returned to Afghanistan many supporters waited for him for a welcoming home ceremony.
One of Afghanistan's most notorious militia leaders threw his support behind President Hamid Karzai yesterday, the final day of campaigning for this week's tense election.
With the outcome of Thursday's ballot hanging on the threat of Taliban-led violence and the clout of old militia chiefs, Karzai's main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, staged an equally frenetic rally in the capital, Kabul.
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ydwong
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Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 17:06 on August 18th, 2009
election politics
at 10:39 on August 20th, 2009
It is not Karzai who has brought back drug trafficker and murderer Dostum to Afghainstan,it is Karzai's masters in US who needed a terrorist's help to ensure victory of Kabul's mayor,Hamid Karzai.
It is not election politics,it is politics of neo-empire.
at 17:29 on August 20th, 2009
Thank you for your comments t k kidwai. I hope the election was quiet all over Afghanistan, not just Kabul. Dostum is supported by whom?