Return of notorious vice president amid a day of death and destruction in Afghanistan
The Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum escaped unharmed from an ISIS suicide bomb blast that killed 14 near Kabul airport, as he returned home yesterday from more than a year in exile.
Former Uzbek warlord General Dostum escaped the attack after returning from exile in Turkey that followed claims of torturing a political rival.
The bomber detonated his suicide vest at a celebration to receive Gen Dostum, the militant group said in its claim of responsibility.
The vice president’s charter plane landed in Kabul late yesterday afternoon.
He was received by Afghan officials including Second Vice President Sarwar Danish, and a crowd of supporters in and around the airport.
Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said that the 14 people killed included civilians and military, and that 50 people were wounded.
The victims included an AFP news agency employee – the second AFP staffer to have been killed in an attack in Kabul this year.
An official close to Gen Dostum who was at the airport said several bodies were on the street outside the airport.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the bomb attack in a statement issued by the presidential palace.
Gen Dostum faced outrage from western donor countries, including the US, after reports surfaced in 2016 that his guards had seized his rival Ahmad Ishchi and subjected him to beatings, torture and violent sexual abuse.
The attorney general’s office launched an investigation into the allegations.
Gen Dostum denied Mr Ishchi’s accusations but, amid international demands that he be held accountable, he left the country in May last year, ostensibly to seek medical treatment in Turkey.
The former warlord had until now reportedly been barred by the government from returning to Afghanistan.
It was not immediately clear whether he will now face any charges.
Despite the explosion and the cloud hanging over Gen Dostum, a large crowd of supporters had gathered at Sedarat Palace – the vice president’s office – in Kabul to take part in a welcome ceremony.
Among them was Humaira
Mohammadi, a Junbish party member from Baghlan province, who travelled to Kabul to welcome Gen Dostum.
“I cannot express my happiness in words. We are delighted that our leader is back in our homeland,” she told The National.
Officials close to him confirmed that his return to Afghanistan was prevented for the past year.
But after recent protests in the north against the arrest of strongman Nizamuddin Qaisari, a figure close to Gen Dostum, the Afghan government was forced to negotiate his return.
The allegations against him and his men are still to be tackled. But for many of his supporters, the general is regarded as a victim of politics.
“The case was a plot against our leader. The government knows he’s innocent,” said Mohammad Rahmani, deputy of the Junbish party in Faryab province, the party’s stronghold and the centre of the recent protests. Ms Mohammadi agreed: “This is not a legal case. It is political. Long before this case, there was a plan to attack Gen Dostum in the Ghormach district of Faryab.”
Many of his supporters see his return as a personal victory.
“We are very excited to see our leader return. This is one of the demands we have raised in our protests in the last 20 days and this is the result of our demonstrations,” Mr Rahmani said.
In his first public address for more than a year, the former warlord urged his supporters to end the protests and allow the reopening of the northern trade routes that had been closed over the last two weeks.
Hundreds of Junbish supporters, many of whom travelled from northern provinces to welcome Gen Dostum, cheered as he promised to talk to the Afghan president and address the matter of Mr Qaisari’s arrest.
Gen Dostum will resume his duties and is expected to meet Mr Ghani today.
He will discuss a range of issues such as the Faryab protests, Mr Qaisari’s arrest and the mishandling of his guards.
Atta Noor, the former governor of Balkh, also attended the welcoming ceremony and mentioned the formation of a new political coalition in Afghanistan.
Mr Rahmani confirmed to
The National that the protests in the north would end.
“We will follow our leader’s commands from here on,” he said.