Power-sharing deal would allow general accused of rape to receive promotion

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN >> The two sides in the monthslong dispute over Afghanistan’s presidential election are close to signing a powersharing deal, the terms of which include giving top military honors to a former vice president who is accused of torturing and ordering the rape of a political rival while in office.

A political deal is seen as critical as the government prepares for direct peace talks with the Taliban. But the agreement to honor the former vice president, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, by giving him the rank of marshal — awarded only twice before in Afghanistan’s history — comes as many Afghans are demanding that accountability for terrorism, war crimes and other brutality be a central part of those talks.

The bitter election dispute has stretched on since the vote in September. In February, President Ashraf Ghani was declared to have been reelected, but his main opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, called the results fraudulent and took the oath of office at the same time. The deadlock raised concerns that the Afghan government would be divided and weakened in talks with the Taliban.

The promotion for Dostum — a former vice president under Ghani who became one of Abdullah’s key backers — was promised by Abdullah in return for his support, and Ghani has now consented. The deal is expected to be signed today.

Dostum, who is accused of human rights abuses stretching back to the country’s civil war in the 1990s, was accused in 2016 of abducting and attempting to rape Ahmad Ishchi, a fellow Uzbek and a former deputy who became a political rival.

Ishchi broke down on national television as he described the episode, saying the vice president had beat him up in front of thousands of people at a sports arena; brought him to a home he owned, where he tortured him for days and tried to rape him; then ordered his guards to sexually assault him with the barrels of their guns. Medical reports after Ishchi’s release showed injuries consistent with sexual assault.

There has been little accountability for any of the warlords involved in Afghanistan’s 1990s civil war, which left Kabul in ruins and plunged the country into bloody chaos that still continues. Many of those men grew prosperous with the backing of the American military over the past two decades.