Ex-Afghan VP & exiled warlord Marshal Abdul Dostum calls on UN to end Taliban's massacre

First Vice President of Afghanistan Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum has called on the United Nations to end the massacre by the forces of the Islamic Emirate. Dostum is a renowned veteran of 40 years of conflict in Afghanistan and was a marshal in the Afghan National Army. Since Kabul fell to the hardline terrorist organisation on August 15, international bulletin and observers have been curious about his whereabouts. Rumour had it that the Uzbek militia leader fled the war-torn state right after the Taliban conquest. 

Afghan army veteran urges UN to step up 

A local news agency in Kabul took to a micro-blogging site to state that Dostum has urged the international organ to step up. 

"Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum called on the United Nations to end the massacre by the forces of the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan!" 

Who is Dostum?

Popularly, Dostum is referred to as 'Pasha', an Uzbek/Turkic term of honour. In the 1990s, the Uzbek militia leader aligned himself with the Northern Alliance against the Taliban. After being run out of the country by the Taliban, at the time when they rose to power, he had returned to Afghanistan in a peculiar fashion, as a CIA asset. In 2018, Dostum stood accused of massacring hundreds, if not thousands, of Taliban prisoners of war in 2001, including stuffing insurgents into containers to suffocate them to death. 

The 67 year-old-leader is not in his prime fighting shape, as he just returned from medical treatment in Turkey, but his desire to be involved does not appear to have dimmed. Despite his history in a series of war crimes, the Ashraf Ghani-led government was hopeful and optimistic of his military acumen that could help beat back the current insurgency in Afghanistan. 

UN urges international community to counter-terrorist threat in Afghanistan

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on September 8 called on the international community to make use of all tools in order to counter the global terrorist threat in the war-ravaged nation. He urged the international community to support the establishment of an "inclusive" government in Afghanistan, according to ANI. The UN Chief in a report titled 'The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security' has termed the present situation in the war-torn nation as highly "fluid."

Guterres in a report issued on the situation in Afghanistan condemned the blast that took place near Kabul airport on August 26. He said, "Afghanistan must never again be used as a platform or safe haven for terrorist organisations to threaten or attack any country." The UN chief urged the Security Council and the international community to act together to fight the global terrorist threat in Afghanistan.

Guterres asserted that people across the world have been witnessing the situation in Afghanistan "with a heavy heart and deep disquiet about what lies ahead."

Image: AP/ANI