The Guardian (UK): Afghan authorities have drafted a deal giving the Turkish government control of more than a dozen schools in Afghanistan affiliated with the exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen. Western and Afghan officials believe the agreement is part of a bargain allowing Afghanistan’s vice-president, Abdul Rashid Dostum, who has been accused of abducting and torturing a
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan May 20, 2017 Afghan officials say controversial Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum has left the country amid claims that he ordered his men to abduct, beat, and rape a political rival last year. Yaseen Khamosh, a media adviser to Dostum, told RFE/RL late on May 19 that Dostum had gone to
Tolo News: Ahmad Eshchi, former deputy head of National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, who claims to have been sexually abused by the First Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum and his bodyguards, maintains he wants the prosecution of the main suspect. While welcoming the recent questioning of seven of Dostum’s guards, Eshchi urged the government to ensure
Tolo News: The Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah’s office on Thursday said the results of the investigations into the actions of seven bodyguards of the First Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum will be announced to the media next week. Meanwhile, the head of Afghan Youth Movement, Kanishka Turkistani, a close aide to Dostum, said the seven bodyguards have
Tolo News: Seven bodyguards of the First Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum who are accused of sexual abuse of Ahmad Eshchi, former deputy head of National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, appeared for questioning at the Attorney General’s Office, a senior police official told TOLOnews. The spokesman for Ministry of Interior (MoI), Sediq Sediqqi, wrote on his
Tolo News: A security source said the armed forces surrounded Dostum’s house on Tuesday because he had brought huge numbers armed personnel into the city. In addition, the source said, nine of Dostum’s security guards were accused of mistreating Ahmad Eshchi, former deputy head of the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan. Only two of the guards
Tolo News: Afghanistan’s attorney general ordered the arrest of nine of First Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum’s bodyguards on charges related to the alleged abduction and sexual assault of a political rival, who accused the vice president of sodomizing him with a rifle. Dostum has denied the accusations. His office called them a baseless effort to
Khaama Press: The Office of the First Vice President has angrily reacted at Ata Mohammad Noor’s remarks after he claimed to reject offers for replacing General Abdul Rashid Dostum as the First Vice President. During an interview with BBC, Noor claimed that some officials in Kabul proposed to him to replace Gen. Dostum and take over the
Tolo News: A number of lawyers and lawmakers on Wednesday said the continued absence of the First Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum from work is against the national interests. They said government should address the allegations against Dostum as soon as possible. Dostum has not been at work since the alleged assault against former Jawzjan governor
Washington Post: For 30 years, Gen. Abdurrashid Dostum has reigned as northern Afghanistan’s untouchable warrior-king: first as a ruthless pro-communist general, later as an armed U.S. ally against the Taliban and finally as a reliable, if unsavory, political boss who could deliver votes from his ethnic Uzbek followers. Click here to read more (external link).