Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Afghan confronts warlord in northwest area

|
|
 
  
Published: April 9, 2004 at 9:11 AM

MAIMANA, Afghanistan, April 9 (UPI) -- Afghanistan sent soldiers Friday to a provincial capital in a northwestern province that has been overrun by fighters loyal to an Uzbek warlord.

Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, a security adviser to President Hamid Karzai, was in apparent control of Maimana, capital of the northwestern province of Faryab, the Financial Times reported.

Hundreds of armed followers began throwing rocks at the governor's office, causing him to flee and seek refuge at the airport, said Ali Jalali, the interior minister.

Jalali said defense ministry troops stationed in Faryab under the command of Gen. Hashim Habibi left the capital without resisting Dostum's militia.

"What General Dostum has done is against all military rules and the constitution of Afghanistan," Jalali told a press conference in Kabul. "While warlordism persists in this country, problems like this will continue to occur."

The government dispatched 750 soldiers from its new national army to restore order in the city and would send a group of newly trained police to back them up, Jalali said.

Topics: Abdul Rashid Dostum, Hamid Karzai
© 2004 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 21
Singer Janelle Monae arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California
View Caption
Singer Janelle Monae arrives for the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. UPI/Jim Ruymen
fark
Americans would never have to deal with the current bedbug epidemic if we would only legalize DDT...
A guy on my fb just got picked up for a homicide. Do I unfriend him and look like a tool if it turns...
Daughter: hey, look what my pet bird can dance to. Parents: he's going to hell
"Slave master" husband, who severly beat wife over DS/SM marriage pact, quits as local charity director....
Amsterdam drops ban on drinking beer standing up. Drinking beer upside down still punishable offense...
Photoshop Theme: Mashup products from different centuries. Link goes to real product example