Taking tea with Afghanistan’s most fearsome warlord, General Abdul Rashid Dostum

What does the General think of the timing? “Most Afghans believe it is too
soon,” he says fearing the country might disintegrate into chaos. I put it
to him the comments I have heard from his own soldiers making up part of the
Afghan army who complain that their equipment is inadequate. A common
complaint is that the foreign armies are kitted out well (although some back
home may beg to differ) whereas the Afghan army has their cast-offs. Their
boots are falling apart, their helmets have holes.

Dostum is nodding gravely. “We are not ungrateful,” he insists, “but if you
commit to any form of assistance, you must do it properly. You have a duty
to do a good job.”

It is not just the poor equipment that leaves the Afghan army feeling
despondent for the future security of their country. Many talk of a general
lack of respect fuelled by events, however accidental or isolated, such as
the Qur’an burnings this February – when US soldiers set alight religious
texts – or tales of soldiers urinating on dead bodies. Such occurrences have
turned many Afghans against those same foreign forces trying to help them.

“Why come here and insult our culture?” says Dostum. “Such events have only
served to create an atmosphere of mistrust and anger. New recruits to the
Afghan army have to be watched closely in case they are Taliban spies. Acts
of disrespect from US troops only serve to strengthen the position of the
Taliban and will have made it harder to work out a peaceful solution.”

I first came to Afghanistan after witnessing the bus bombing in London’s
Tavistock Square on 7 July 2005. Having studied Islamic history at
university, my rose-tinted world of Persian miniatures and Sufi poetry had
been shattered by the first-hand experience of Islamic terrorism. To my
mind, there were now big questions to be asked – and I wanted answers.
Against the advice of friends and family, I packed my bags and bought a
plane ticket to Kabul.

Luckily, the Afghans I met took pity on me. I was, of course, a woman; I was
an infidel; and I was alone. My first time I stayed among the locals,
venturing into the bazaars unchallenged, often donning a burka. Having
expected the worst, I found the Afghans proud and strong, as kind as they
were canny, and with a nobility that seemed to me to have been all too often
lost in our own society. The generosity I had received from those who owned
little more than the clothes they stood up in had moved me beyond words.

I had subsequently returned to Britain armed with an entirely new set of
questions about the nature of terrorism, the war, and the cultural and
religious divisions between our societies, along with a sense of
responsibility. I wanted to do something that would help the Afghans that
was peaceful and positive. Education was at the heart of what was needed for
the long-term regeneration of Afghanistan. However, over 50 percent of the
country’s children didn’t go to school at all and reading materials were a
scarcity. So I set up a small charity printing books in Kabul for children
with little or no access to schooling.

During that initial visit – and in my subsequent trips to the country – I have
encountered drug dealers, feudal chiefs and Taliban sympathisers, men of
influence whose track records are as murky as the toxic waters of Lake
Quargha. In a country where corruption is so endemic it is said to be part
of the constitution, I never once batted an eyelid. After all, no one else
did.

So does the General believe the Taliban can ever be defeated? “Tell your
government,” he roars, letting out a great belly laugh, moustache bristling,
“that the Taliban amount to no more than around 9,000 individuals. We know
who they are and where to find them. Given the order, I estimate it would
take less than a year to destroy their ringleaders. I have said this on many
occasions.”

Dostum’s despondency at the current leadership is surprising given that he
helped bring President Karzai to power in the first place, backing him in
the last elections. “After the troops withdraw, his days will be numbered,”
he shrugs. “In Afghanistan we say he is half-Afghan, half-American because
he spends so much time in that country and even owns businesses there.”

I hesitate to ask the General his view of what he thinks will happen to the
rights of Afghan women in the future, especially given his own alleged track
record.

Many women have told me how scared they are of the return to a Taliban-styled
government, I say. Women are concerned Karzai will seek peace at any price,
and if that means kowtowing to the Taliban on women’s rights, they will do
so. “To ensure progress is made on all fronts, Afghan and US leaders must
ensure women are actively involved in a settlement that protects the rights
accorded to them in recent years.”

His reassurances offer some comfort, but the fact is that Afghanistan remains
a very hard place to live as a woman. Despite incremental improvements
following the US invasion that brought in new laws protecting women’s
rights, oppression is still rife, particularly in the south. It is estimated
that 87% of women suffer violence at home, and medical care is so poor that
one woman dies every half hour in childbirth.

On the way down in the lift, the sense of apprehension I might previously have
felt has all but evaporated as I realise I have survived the meeting
unscathed. I ask the General if he has any ideas for a future leader, a
Jeffersonian figure who could build the brave new Afghanistan so many of us
have been praying for. Is there such a person? Maybe he even plans to stand
for office himself, I suggest almost playfully.

He shakes his head firmly. He does not want the job, but it comes as no
surprise that he has someone else in mind.

It is no less than I would expect from Afghanistan’s greatest deal-maker.
Let’s hope it will be his best deal yet.

 Magsie Hamilton-Little is author of Dancing with Darkness: Life Death and
Hope in Afghanistan, £8.99. All profits go to Little Books Afghanistan;
www.littlebooksafghanistan.org

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