Afghanistan's (VP) Dostum Turns To Old Ally Russia For Help

rferl.org ^ | October 07, 2015 | Frud Bezhan

[Trumpinator]

Afghanistan's Dostum Turns To Old Ally Russia For Help

By Frud Bezhan

October 07, 2015

With the Taliban threatening to overrun large parts of Afghanistan, First Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum is seeking help from an old ally -- Russia.

A graduate of the Soviet Military Academy and a general in the Soviet-backed Afghan army, Dostum is hoping his old links to Moscow will help him secure crucial military support for Afghanistan's besieged security forces.

A trip to Russia took him to Moscow and Chechnya, where he met with Ramzan Kadyrov on the Kremlin-backed regional strongman's birthday on October 5.

Dostum, who led an ethnic Uzbek militia during the civil war of the 1990s, landed in Moscow last week. He has held talks with top Russian security officials, pleading for heavy weapons and helicopter gunships for the 350,000-strong Afghan National Security Forces.

[Trumpinator]

The old Northern Alliance that the US used as ground troops to push back the Taliban under Bush was the remnants of the old Soviet govt troops mixed in with ethnic and religious militias that were anti-Taliban. Russia and her former 'Stans was funding the Northern Alliance along with China, Iran (Shia Persian militia) and India (to hit back at Pakistan which was supporting the Taliban).

There is a narrative out there that the USSR and Russia withdrew from Afghanistan in defeat but they never left and stayed on and fought using their allies until after 9/11 the USA was handed the Northern Alliance. From what I read the Russians then were more than happy to hand over the Northern Alliance to NATO so they could defeat the Taliban.

But the problem is and has always been Pakistan maintaining a link to the Taliban while at the same time pretending to fight them.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Dostum historically switched sides over and over and over again. He can be seen as a “canary in the coal mine” for US influence in Afghanistan. He will be the first to switch to Russia. If the Obama Administration doesn’t get it act together, others will follow.

[dfwgator]

Perhaps this is what Obama wanted all along.