Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AFP)--U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview to be aired Monday that he has ordered a probe into attempts to quash an investigation into the mass execution of Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan. The New York Times had reported Friday that top officials from the previous administration of president George W. Bush discouraged separate probes by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Department and the Pentagon. They wanted to hush up the killing of up to 2,000 prisoners in 2001 because it was carried out by the forces of General Abdul Rashid Dostam, an Afghan warlord then on...

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AFP) - Afghanistan's powerful northern warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostam revealed at the weekend he was seeking a senior military position in President Hamid Karzai's government. "The post is not important but I would like to work with the government," Dostam told reporters Sunday in Shirbirghan city in the northern province of Jawzjan. "I will ask Karzai to appoint me as defence minister, army chief-of-staff or give me a military position with 20,000 soldiers," Dostam said. On Saturday, Karzai said he was open to giving Dostam a senior position. "If he asks for a higher position in...