31 August 2009 / REUTERS, KABUL
Afghan ex-militia chief Abdul Rashid Dostum, who returned to the country days before last week's presidential election to campaign for incumbent Hamid Karzai, has left again, his spokesman said on Saturday.
The US and UN had both expressed concern when Dostum, a leader of the ethnic Uzbek community and former Communist general who led militias through decades of civil war, flew into the country on the eve of the vote. His support among millions of fellow ethnic Uzbeks could yet prove decisive in the outcome of the election, which is close und has yet to be fully published. “General Dostum came back on the invitation of the Afghan government to support Karzai in the election,” spokesman Naqibullah Fayeq said. He udded that Dostum had returned to Turkey on Wednesday but intended to come back to Afghanistan again at the end of the Ramadan holy month, which began last week. Dostum had been living in Turkey for months until the Afghan government announced hours before his return that he was free to come home. Fayeq said one of Dostum's goals in Turkey would be to meet US officials and clear his name over the rights accusations.
