Wednesday, March 02, 2005
War criminals in Afghanistan. posted by Richard Seymour
General Abdul Rashid Dostum, it is fair to say, is not someone you want to meddle with. As chief of Jubash-e-Milli Islami Afghanistan, Dostum was responsible for atrocities that would mantle the cheeks of the Bush administration with a blush of shame, if they were still capable of shame. Approximately 50,000 people lost their lives to the maniacs that would later be called 'the Northern Alliance'. Naturally, when the 'liberation' of Afghanistan was over, Paul Wolfowitz had to go meet this guy, and give him a cuddle.Dostum.
Dostum has been allied, in his time, with Russian imperialism, and the Islamist forces of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the notorious Afghan war criminal. The United Nations is investigating Dostum, a key ally of the US during its invasion, for crimes of torture and intimidation against witnesses to a war crimes inquiry.
There was a well-known massacre at Mazar-i-Sharif , committed by the US. A prison with approximately 500 men in it was bombed on the pretext that the prisoners were rioting. Dostum was the commander of Northern Alliance forces in that area, and an adjuvant to that particular American atrocity. He has also been useful in procuring trade with neighbouring countries.
Dostum and Karzai compare nose-pickings.
On the other hand, he remains quick to temper. The Telegraph columnist and reputed Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid desribed an interview with him:
Rashid tells the story of going to interview General Dostum in his Qalai Janghi fortress just north of the Uzbek stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif. Rashid noticed smears of blood and flesh in one corner of the courtyard and wondered to the guards if a goat had recently been slaughtered. Guards informed him that an hour earlier Dostum had ordered a soldier accused of stealing to be tied to the tracks of a tank that then drove around until he was reduced to mincemeat.
Well, that'll be a lesson to him.
Anyway, you'll be pleased to know that General Dostum has now been made chief-of-staff to the commander in chief (that's President Karzai - they even insist on the American appellations). A man who thinks an appropriate punishment for theft is to be strapped to tank tracks and mashed to mince-meat is leading the charge for democracy in Afghanistan. I'm certainly glad they're bringing some women into the government with that in mind. I'd hate to think it was just psyhopathic male war criminals.