Ex-Afghan warlords take new position against government

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) - As Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani steers his war-ravaged country through some difficult days, powerful warlords in the country are taking new positions.

Last week, three former tribal warlords who currently hold offices formed an anti-government alliance in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Atta Mohammad Noor, governor of the Balkh province and chief executive of the Jamiat-e-Islami party, and Mohammad Mohaqeq, deputy to Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah of the coalition National Unity Government (NUG) in Kabul, joined Vice President Abdul Rasheed Dostum to form a new political alliance called Salvation of Afghanistan.

The unity government was brokered by then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry between the 2014 presidential election rivals Ghani and Abdullah, when the latter declined to accept defeat, leveling allegations of rigging.

These key leaders feel marginalized under the rule of former World Bank economist Ghani.

Dostum, Noor, and Mohaqeq led different factions in the bloody civil war of the 1990s. Now Dostum faces accusations of molesting and physically abusing his ethnic Uzbek political rival Ahmad Eschi, while the other two complain their powers have been reduced.

Dostum has been in self-imposed exile in Turkey since this May.

- Ethnic fault lines

Due to their blood-stained past, Afghans are quite weary of the ethnic fault lines of this new alliance. Noor counts on his ethnic Afghan-Tajik voters, Dostum has for long been the main leader of Afghanistan’s Uzbek community, and Mohaqeq is the key religious and political leader of the Hazara community.

Dr. Wadir Safi, senior political analyst and professor at Kabul University, told Anadolu Agency that this new alliance could weaken the sovereignty of the government, but not national unity.

“At the same time it can affect the process of national unity of Afghan people for now,” he said.

The latest political crisis flared up this April when Ghani fired his aide Ahmad Zia Massoud, vice head of the Jamiat party, for “ineffective” performance in his capacity as adviser for good governance.

Ahmad Zia Massoud is the brother of slain Mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.

“Based on the agreement of the National Unity Government, the president has no right to dismiss me. The government formed [after the 2014 elections] was a compromise, so whoever is doing this [dismissing him] is paving the way for instability, and God forbid, it can lead to civil war,” the shaken Massoud asserted then.

In a recent development, Masoom Stanikzai, chief of Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) spy agency, reportedly met Dostum in Ankara and urged him to return to Kabul. Dostum’s aides confirmed the meeting but gave no details.

- Hekmatyar opposes alliance

Eyeing the political storm, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, another powerful former Mujahideen leader and head of the Hezb-e-Islami party, said on Thursday it is high time for all political parties to unite and confer on major challenges faced by the country to find solutions, and end the armed conflict.

“We do not believe in forming alliances against others, or leadership councils that are superior to the government,” he told a crowded press conference at his Kabul residence on Thursday.

Hekmatyar went on to say he would support the alliance by Dostum, Noor, and Mohaqeq if they have a positive agenda. He stressed such alliances should not be aimed against each other. He urged the government to investigate reports of the distribution of arms in northern parts of the country, strongholds of Dostum and Noor.

Safi argues Dostum will be a loser in forming an anti-government alliance, and would not be able to gain much from the crisis. “Hekmatyar can play a role of a superior leader who does not engage in forming such alliances, but at the same time wants to divert their attention towards reaching and gaining lasting peace under his leadership for Afghanistan,” he added.

All eyes are now on long-overdue parliamentary and district council elections now set for July 2018.