If Russia is Region’s new Gun for Hire, Afghanistan Warlord wants to Bring it In

http://www.juancole.com/2015/10/regions-afghanistan-warlord.html



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

If Russia is Region’s new Gun for Hire, Afghanistan Warlord wants to Bring it In
By Juan Cole | Oct. 8, 2015
By Frud Bezhan | (RFE/ RL)

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.

“The Russian side is committed to support and help Afghanistan in terms of helping its air and military forces,” Dostum’s spokesman, Sultan Faizy, told RFE/RL by telephone. “We’re lacking air support, weapons, ammunition. We need a lot of backing and support to fight against terrorism.”