Word: warlord
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Muhammad Shafiq Popal is one of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's more formidable opponents - yet he isn't a chieftain, a warlord or even a candidate in the Aug. 20 Afghanistan presidential election. Just 30 years old, Popal is a rare individual in the country: a community organizer who heads the Afghanistan Youth National and Social Organization (AYNSO), an NGO that, in a nation marked by division, transcends religion, ethnicity and tribe. AYNSO's broad objective is to promote democracy and human rights. But Popal's current objective is much more specific: mobilizing AYNSO's 32,000 members to unseat...
...many Afghans may see Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum as the epitome of the worst brand of warlord politics, but to President Hamid Karzai he represents a bloc of votes crucial to winning reelection. The feared Uzbek warlord, who returned to Afghanistan from Turkish exile on Monday, urged some 10,000 people gathered in his home district to vote for Karzai. The president needs to win more than 50% of the votes cast on Thursday to avoid a runoff election. And Dostum figures his endorsement will deliver 500,000 additional votes to the incumbent. "Because I am now here, more than...
Since his return, hundreds of supplicants have arrived at his sprawling residence, known as "the castle," seeking an audience with the general. The fact that the courtyard's swimming pools were empty despite the 100-plus degree heat were testament to the suddenness of the warlord's reappearance. As his militiamen kept guard, townspeople expressed their enthusiasm for Dostum's return. "Our homes are safe because of the general," says Sharif Qaridyar, the manager of a busy ice cream parlor. "People in the south who say bad things against him should look at where they live." A laminated poster...
Bashardost believes that mounting disgust with warlord-dominated patronage networks has led Afghans to begin to shift away from traditional ethnic-tribal politics toward issues of substance like jobs and education. He says that the fact that he has never fought in a war or joined a faction makes him more appealing to disillusioned voters. "You can't find another candidate who thinks about all the national interests of the Afghan people more than Ramazan Bashardost," he says, lapsing into the third-person as is his habit. Few, however, share his assessment of the way Afghan politics works...
...seven-country trip around Africa, praised all that Johnson Sirleaf has accomplished, and deftly dodged repeated media inquires about the U.S. position on a recent report that publicly sanctions the President and recommends she not serve in government for the next 30 years because of her early association with warlord Charles Taylor, now on trial for war crimes committed in Sierra Leone. On several occasions, Clinton made reference to the fact that many in today's Liberian government played dubious roles during the war. While addressing the legislature, she said, "I know some of you in this chamber bore arms...