DELIVERING A DOSE OF REALITY TO DOSTUM'S DEFENDERS

UNCLAS KABUL 001320 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG NSC FOR WOOD OSD FOR SHIVERS CENTCOM FOR CG CJTF-101 POLAD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV AF SUBJECT: DELIVERING A DOSE OF REALITY TO DOSTUM'S DEFENDERS REF: A. KABUL 303 B. KABUL 497 ¶1. (SBU) The Ambassador told a delegation of General Dostum's parliamentary defenders May 22 that the USG would not intervene with the government on behalf of the Uzbek warlord. Dostum's only recourse is to surrender himself immediately to the attorney general and submit to the legal system. The MPs should think carefully about what it means for them to be advocating concessions because they feared violence from Dostum's supporters. What kind of Afghanistan did they want? ¶2. (SBU) Lower house MP Faizullah Zaki (Uzbek, Jawzjan) and Dostum's brother, upper house Senator Abdul Qader Dostum (Uzbek, Jawzjan),led the group of 15 northern province National Assembly members. In addition to the fate of their beleaguered patron, they registered concern over rising food prices and shortages, which have been exacerbated in the north by late and insufficient seasonal rains. ¶3. (SBU) As the delegation departed the Embassy, MPs Shakar Kargar (Uzbek, Faryab) and Rahman Oghly (Uzbek, Faryab) complained Zaki had presented a false picture of universal support for Dostum among the north's Uzbeks. Kargar and Oghly's effort to distance themselves from the general may be indicative of the split between loyalists and modernizers among the predominantly Uzbek Junbesh party. The party's June conference and its leadership elections will be an opportunity to break definitively with Dostum. WOOD