The First Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum on Tuesday returned to north of Afghanistan amid deteriorating security situation.
Gen. Dostum returned to capital Kabul after leading military operations in northern parts of the country but the situation further deteriorated soon after his return which led to fall of the strategic Kunduz city, a month after he concluded operations in Faryab and parts of Sar-e-Pul province.
His visit comes as Ghormach district in northern Faryab province fell to Taliban control.
Gen. Dostum appeared in a press conference shortly after arriving in Shebarghan, the capital city of northern Jawzjan province.
He told reporters that immediate actions would be taken in a bid to eliminate concerns of Ghormach district and Kunduz province.
Sources close to Gen. Dostum said he will initially visit Ghormach district to supervise operations against Taliban militants and will visit Kunduz if it was required.
Gen. Dostum joined the Afghan security forces in the frontline in northern Faryab province earlier in the month of August where he survived at least two assassination plots by the anti-government armed militant groups while he was leading counter-terrorism operations.
Initially his convoy was ambushed by the Taliban in militants in Qaisar district in mid August while another plot to assassinate him was thwarted by the security forces and his special security guards few days later.
At least three suicide bombers were arrested from the vicinity of Gen. Dostum’s residence in Qaisar district in connection to the attack plot.
This Dostum can never defeat Taliban..he can win a few battles and make terrorists retreat from Jowjwan,but that is no achievement,same result can be achieved by ANSF troops without him..same happened in Kunduz when he fought……..this war will be won by intelligence and change in tactics of ANSF..a counter terrorism academy & mountain warfare school must be setup where scholars do proper research and come out with new methods to win this war 100%..warlords like Dostum with no real intellectual ability have no chance…….educated people and scholars are the secret to success of Afghanistan’s future
No wonder Mr. Dostum is on the front, because somebody needs to fill the gap for the lack of military leadership in the Afghan war against a well funded, well organized, well coordinated Pakistani proxy army, the Taliban.
At moment Mr. Dostum is the only leader who still is trying to do some work for the country and offers his support for the desperate, but brave Afghan defense forces.
The other so called leaders are sitting in their fortresses that they have built with the money that allocated was for rebuilding the country. They used all these funds for building their little palaces all over Kabul and the other large provincial capitals and their backup houses in Dubai, just in case they have to run, if the Taliban gets the upper hand.
The irony is that the current Afghan government and most of the previous Anti-Soviet war lords haven’t a favorable opinion of Mr. Dostum and they are afraid of him becoming too powerful, however, they are so desperate and afraid of Taliban that despite their concerns they tolerate Mr. Dostum’s actions to do the dirty work for them.
Beside Mr. Dostum neither the Afghan government nor the old war lords have the guts or the capability to provide any useful leadership in the war against the enemies of the country.
Unfortunately the Afghan government leaders (Mr. Ghani and Mr. Abdullah) and the Afghan legislative bodies are completely incompetent of assigning the most important post, which the post of ministry of defense.
The lack of leadership for this post has created severe problem in the effective fight against the Afghan enemies. As result of this weakness in the leadership the defense forces has lost important battles and consequently experienced the loss of many lives within the Afghan servicemen and among the civilian population.
It is known that Mr. Dostum being a controversial figure based on his previous military engagement against the former government of Taliban where he is accused of war crimes.
He is, however, at the moment a true leader putting his money where is his moth is by going into the battlefront together with his sons for providing moral support for the Afghan defense forces.
Indeed, Mr. Dostum has a favorable rating by his own ethic group, but also by many Afghans regardless of their ethnic background who are looking up to him for his contribution in the Afghan war against the enemies of the country.
The normal folks on the streets of Afghan cities and villages are not anymore impressed with the current Afghan government leaders and the elected representatives in legislative bodies.
All the Afghan see and hear from incumbent Afghan leaders are with politic to promote personal interests, useless polemic and the nice suits and the fancy cars.