KABUL — A powerful and controversial Afghan warlord returned from exile in Turkey late Sunday in an apparent attempt by President Hamid Karzai to attract ethnic Uzbek voters in this week’s presidential poll.
The U.S. condemned Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum’s return and raised concerns about his alleged involvement in “massive human- rights violations.”
Dostum is alleged to have been responsible for the deaths of up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners early in the Afghan war. President Barack Obama has ordered his national-security team to investigate allegations in The New York Times that the Bush administration failed to investigate the reported deaths.
Meanwhile, the Taliban is threatening to attack polling centers in the key southern province of Kandahar.
“We can’t vote. Everybody knows it,” said Hakmatullah, a farmer outside the village of Tarakai who, like many Afghans, has only one name. “We are farmers, and we cannot do a thing against the Taliban.”
But Afghanistan’s intelligence- service chief said authorities were making progress in persuading some Taliban to leave voters alone for Thursday’s elections.
Karzai has cultivated several warlords as allies. But the alliances are drawing criticism from the international community.
An official at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said Washington “has made clear to the government of Afghanistan our serious concerns about the prospective role of Mr. Dostum in today’s Afghanistan, particularly during these historic elections.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities.
Dostum landed at Kabul airport late Sunday and was greeted with enthusiasm by supporters, but he made no statements to reporters.
He was suspended last year as chief of staff of the armed forces for failing to cooperate in an investigation into the shooting of a rival. Karzai has reinstated him to his largely ceremonial post.
Witnesses claim Dostum’s forces placed Taliban prisoners in sealed containers and drove them for two days to Sheberghan Prison, suffocating them and then burying them en masse, according to a State Department report. U.S. special-operations troops were working alongside Dostum’s troops at the time.
Dostum has vigorously denied any wrongdoing in the treatment of prisoners.
