An Afghan strongman whose forces have overrun a northern province issued a stark warning to the US-backed president yesterday â fire the defense and interior ministers or your government will fail. Even as a delegation led by Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Mohibullah met Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum to urge him to withdraw his fighters from Faryab province, the militia advanced further having taken the provincial capital on Thursday. Speaking to Reuters for the first time since his forces attacked Faryab on Wednesday, Dostum complained he had not been consulted about the deployment of hundreds of National Army troops to the province to restore order. âI will help with the national army and I should be trusted,â he said.
| Ummm... If you're the problem, you're not usually the solution, are you? |
Dostum, who has continued to angle for a top position despite losing favor since helping US forces topple the Taleban in 2001, called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sack officials including Defense Minister Muhammad Qasim Fahim and Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali. âIf he does not, his government will fail,â he said. He said Fahim was only interested in extending his power, while Jalali had been out of the country working in Washington while Dostum and others were fighting to overthrow the Taleban. Dostum, an adviser to Karzai, also complained that US planes hovered over his house in the town of Shiberghan on Thursday night. âMy kids were frightened, but let me say that I am not the type of man to be afraid,â he said. |