Concern at Dostum Appointment

Even his critics concede that the recent appointment of General Abdul Rashid Dostum as chief of staff of the armed forces may help Afghanistan recover from 20 years of warfare.

But they warn that the move could backfire on President Hamed Karzai, as it could set a trend where factional commanders accused of human rights abuses are rewarded with positions of power instead of being sidelined.

"Mr Karzai may have rushed this business," said Mohammad Sediq Patman, who was influential in drafting the Afghan constitution. "Karzai may have got the support of some of the militias by doing it, but on the other hand, he will lose the support of ordinary people."

The post of chief of staff is widely viewed as virtually equivalent to that of vice-president, and Patman said more thought should have gone into the selection.

Dostum, 50, is as controversial as he is influential. Throughout most of the Eighties, he and his Uzbek militia fought on the side of Afghanistan's communist regime in a ruthless war against the mujahedin. He later changed sides, and in 2001 he became an ally of the United States against the Taleban.

He served as deputy defence minister in the interim government, but was not included in the new cabinet line-up named after the October presidential election. So it was something of a surprise when Karzai appointed him chief of staff on March 1.

In a recent BBC interview, John Sifton, who heads the Afghan office of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, cited civil war atrocities attributed to Dostum and others. The government should be reining them in rather than placing them in power, he said.

Non-governmental organisations working in the country viewed the appointment as a definite step in the wrong direction.

Patman speculates that the appointment was a bid by Karzai to solidify his own sovereignty over Dostum's power base in the northern regions where the central government has had trouble extending control.

However, Patman acknowledges that Dostum's experience as a military strongman could brighten the bleak economic picture by smoothing the way for a new gas pipeline which could one day be built through Afghanistan, to connect Turkmenistan and Pakistan.

"We need security to be able to extend the pipeline, and even a minor breach of security could delay this project," he said.

Dostum was one of 17 presidential candidates in the October 2004 presidential election. He was openly bitter about his defeat and his subsequent exclusion from Karzai's cabinet. Under a nationwide disarmament scheme, he has renounced formal control over various militia groups, although his influence in the north remains strong.

Political analyst Mohammad Qasim Akhgar speculates that Dostum was given the post in order to keep him quiet. He says it could set a worrying precedent for how the government deals with its armed opponents, especially as it now appears to be courting the Taleban.

"As long as negotiations between the government and the Taleban and the [allied] Hizb-e-Islami continue, the nation will be expecting to see privileges being granted to warlords," said Akhgar.

Government spokesmen declined repeated requests for comment.

Habibullah Rafih, a leading figure in the Academy of Sciences, interprets Dostum's appointment as an attempt to widen government control in the provinces by easing out powerful local figures. To that end, he says, "Karzai wants to bring those who had power in the provinces to the centre."

But even in Dostum's traditional stronghold of Mazar-e-Sharif, some observers are concerned about Karzai's tactics.

"Pretty soon, other warlords will be demanding posts, and in a short space of time we will have an administration consisting of warlords," said Qayyum Babak, chief editor of the Jehan-e-Naw magazine.

"Before he was appointed to an official post in government, he wasn't able to create too much trouble, but now that he is [de facto] vice-president, he can do whatever he wants without being criticised by anyone."

Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul. Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif, contributed to this report.