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MAZAR-E SHARIF, Afghanistan Afghan President Ashraf Ghani likes to say that he has the worlds most difficult job, and no one doubts that he is at least in the running. But amid the plethora of problems he faces, it might come as a surprise that his first vice president, whom he selected, is one of the biggest.

Then again, Abdurrashid Dostums name is synonymous with volatility and brutality. For decades, the former plumber, wrestler and oil refinery worker has led northern Afghanistans ethnic Uzbeks, first as a ruthless and reckless militia commander, now as a politician. The U.S. State Department, in cables released by WikiLeaks, once called Dostum a quintessential warlord, and Ghani himself termed him a known killer.

That didnt stop Ghani from making a deal with him. In the last presidential election, Dostum promised and delivered to Ghani the crucial Uzbek vote, propelling the unlikely duo to a narrow victory. But what was convenient a year ago is now quite the opposite. Instead of helping Ghani unite the country, Dostum has revived a sense of indignation toward Afghanistans ethnic Pashtun majority and cobbled together an insurrection in the multiethnic north.

Ghani and Dostums fragile compact began to unravel when the vice president was accused last December of ordering an elderly political rival to be manhandled and sodomized with a Kalashnikov. It was the second time he had been charged with a similar offense. After the first instance in 2008, Dostum went into a long exile at his lavish home in Turkey. Since refusing to cooperate with the attorney general in May, he has been out of Afghanistan, mostly in Turkey again.

Dostum claims the charges are a form of blackmail, aimed at stripping him of his authority. His followers contend that Ghani used Dostum for votes and is consolidating power into a cabal of ethnic Pashtuns. They say the government neglects and even encourages the deterioration of security in the minority-dominated areas in the north where the Taliban and the Islamic States regional affiliate have wrested control of numerous districts and launched a string of suicide bombings and kidnappings.

Last month, Dostum attempted to fly from Turkey to the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, but the government prevented the plane from landing once it learned who might be on board. At a meeting of Dostums followers in late July, two of his closest aides expressed hope that he would return any day, probably by barging across a nearby land border with either Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan. His return, they said, would mark the beginning of a massive wave of protests.

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Dostums co-conspirators call themselves the Coalition for the Salvation of Afghanistan. They have not always been friendly with each other. Foremost among them is Tajik warlord-turned-provincial-governor Attah Mohammed Noor against whom Dostum fought vicious battles in the early 1990s. They are joined by Mohammad Mohaqiq, an ethnic Hazara leader and deputy to the governments chief executive, and Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, a member of Noors Jamaat-e- Islami party. Together they claim to represent Afghanistans three largest ethnic minorities, although the depth of their support among the public, let alone within their own parties, is yet to be put to the test.

They insist that they are not calling for the collapse of the government, only that Ghani relinquish power to officials and cabinet ministers hailing from various parties and ethnicities, Dostum prime among them. A key demand is that the criminal case against Dostum be dropped and his return to Afghanistan expedited. Their rhetoric is menacing.

We see this as a tyrant government, Noor said in an interview at his opulent office in Mazar-e Sharif. He said that the coalition is negotiating with the government but that if coalition members arent heeded, that could change. We may have to take control of administrative buildings and airports to put pressure on and paralyze the government, he said.

Noor took aim at the U.S. government, too, which coalition supporters see as taking Ghanis side in what should be an internal political dispute.

We were the ones, not Ghani, who helped the U.S. fight the Taliban, he said. It is wrong that the U.S. should use us when they need us and then throw us away like empty Pepsi cans. They shouldnt support a group of five individuals against everyone else, he added, referring to an earlier claim that all government decision-making is channeled through Ghani and four others, all Pashtuns.

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The allegations of unscrupulousness fly both ways. Ghanis office has been dismissive of the coalition, saying that its members outrage stems not from any illiberalism on his part but from the fact that his firm stance on eliminating corruption has cut off strongmen such as Noor and Dostum from systems of patronage. Ghani, a Western-educated former World Bank employee who gave up U.S. citizenship to run for president, has emphasized transparency as a way of shoring up Afghanistans corruption-riddled institutions.

For the first time, powerful people feel that their wrongdoings will be accounted for through a proper apolitical, independent judiciary and they feel threatened, said Haroon Chakhansuri, a deputy chief of staff in Ghanis office.

The rift risks exacerbating ethnic polarization, especially with coalition leaders claiming that Ghani is brazenly limiting power, not just to Pashtuns, but also to a small group of confidants from his clan and all under the nose of American advisers who espouse inclusive governance.

On the other side, the lack of any major Pashtun leader in the coalition has made Pashtuns in the north uneasy about the coalitions intentions.

This coalition is nothing but a coalition of killers, said M.W. Matin, a doctor in Mazar-e Sharif who plans to run for office in next years parliamentary elections. But the tragedy is that Ghani had to bring a killer like Dostum into his office just to win.

For some Uzbeks, Dostums violent past is a source of pride. They believe him when he claims to be descended from an ancient line of Uzbek emperors. His face looks out from dozens of giant billboards over Mazar-e Sharifs drab grid of streets.

We say that Ghani has a money bank but Dostum has a people bank, said Sher Aqah Tataroghla, a 23-year-old student living in a hostel that is mostly Uzbek. In the past we couldnt even speak Uzbek in public, but now youll see it on signs around the city. One hundred percent of us are behind him.

Tajiks in Noors party and Hazaras in Mohaqiqs do not seem to be uniting behind the coalition as uniformly as Uzbeks. Those leaders command more limited cachet in their communities, with followings that pale in intensity compared with Dostums. Stoking that sense of ethnic solidarity mobilized through voting blocs as well as people in the streets may well be the crux of the coalitions ultimate strength. Without it, many Afghans may find it difficult to see its leaders as fighting for anything but themselves.

Its not for salvation as they say, it is about their money and their pride thats how politicians are all over the world, right? said Moqaddas Rahim, 28, who has been unemployed for four years after serving as an interpreter for U.S. forces. He knows how to use a computer and speaks six languages, including fluent English with a distinctly southern twang.

To be a good Afghan, you cant trust your government, he said. Look, Im hopeless, man not about my God but about my country. Here, the worst criminals become the most powerful people.

Sayed Salahuddin contributed to this report.

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'A coalition of killers': The ex-warlords promising Afghanistan's ... - Washington Post

Written by Jyoti Malhotra | Published:August 7, 2017 1:18 am US President Donald Trump (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Three weeks ago in the middle of July, 14-year-old Fatemah Qaderyan took a selfie with her father at Herat airport, just before she flew to the US with Afghanistans all-girl robotics team to participate in the First Global Challenge international robotics competition. Mohammed Qaderyan had fully supported his daughter and her friends in their persistent efforts to get US visas, including lobbying with the press when the team was initially refused permission, and had seen them off with his blessings.

On August 2, Qaderyan was among 37 killed in a terrorist attack on Herats Shia Jawadya mosque. Just two weeks earlier, his daughter and the robotics team had returned home to a heros welcome delighted with the certificate of courageous achievement that they had earned, and the praise that the American judges had showered on them.

Fatemah Qaderyans tragedy has devastated even Afghanistan, a country that is used to war and its horrors. President Ashraf Ghani visited the families of the Herat attack victims over the weekend. And in the US, asked if anything was going to change, National Security Advisor Lt Gen H R McMaster told MSNBC that The President [Donald Trump] has also made clear that he, that we, need to see a change in the behaviour of those in the region, which includes those who are providing safe haven and support bases for the Taliban, Haqqani Network and others.

This, McMaster added, is Pakistan, in particular, that we want to that we want to really see a change and a reduction of their support for these groups. This is of course, you know, a very paradoxical situation, right, where Pakistan is taking great losses. They have fought very hard against these groups, but theyve done so really only selectively.

McMasters comments were chillingly similar to those made by Afghanistans National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar who, in an interview to The Indian Express recently in Kabul, said, We cannot defeat the Taliban unless we defeat the sanctuaries and support structures outside Afghanistan, in Pakistan. It is also clear why they are there (in Pakistan), Atmar said. The Pakistan strategic community never abandoned its plan to have Afghanistan more than a friendly neighbour. They want to have us as a client state We find it so offensive to describe this in words, but we know it for what it is.

Atmar, who was a close associate of the former Afghan President Najibullah, who was executed by the Taliban in 1996, said Afghanistans current situation reminded him of the late 1980s, when the mujahideen targeted the Soviets in the belief that cutting off Soviet support to the Afghan government would lead to its collapse. The May 31 truck bomb attack close to Kabuls diplomatic quarter, carried out by the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, Atmar said, had the express purpose of increasing the feeling of insecurity among foreign diplomats, and forcing them to abandon Afghanistan.

Atmars comments may turn out to be prophetic. On July 19, Trump told his officials he was deeply unhappy with Americas flawed strategy in Afghanistan. He pointed out that Chinas growing economic involvement, especially in the mining sector, had meant that while Americans continued to die in their effort to stabilise Afghanistan, China was only interested in its profits. We arent winning the war in Afghanistan, Trump reportedly said. We are losing it.

Indeed, the attack in Herat that killed Fatemah Qaderyans father, as well as the fact that the Taliban now control some 95 out of Afghanistans 407 districts, means that the US is faced with a very difficult choice. The roll-call of deaths has been increasing according to the UN, 11,418 people were killed in Afghanistan in 2015 and 2016, of which at least 24% are children, and 2017 has seen 1,700 deaths so far.

This is war and we are at war, with Pakistan, a war for the very existence of our nation, a senior Afghan security official told The Indian Express. Afghan security forces had been holding some frontlines against the Taliban at the cost of huge casualties, he said, adding that neither the US, nor NATO, nor Iran, nor anyone else are agreed how to turn off the tap of terror which is located in Pakistan.

Asked about the Islamic State, which has claimed the attack on the Shia mosque in Herat, the Afghan official said, Who is ISIS? Different terrorist groups are using ISIS as a cover. ISIS has become a brand in Afghanistan. The groups are Haqqani, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Taliban. Terror has unfortunately become a weapon in the hands of some countries.

Hanif Atmar said that he strongly rejected accusations that India was instigating regional tension in Afghanistan a commonly heard comment from Pakistani analysts these days. But, according to a senior analyst with the American think tank Atlantic Council, if Trump does choose to pull out of the messy and costly war in Afghanistan, estimated at $ 1 trillion already (and goes ahead with firing the US commander in Afghanistan, Gen John W Nicholson, as he is reported to have indicated to close aides), then chances are high that history will repeat itself in Kabul.

Like in the 1980s, Pakistan has returned to the centre of possible solutions to the Afghan conflict. Moscow has been ingratiating itself to Rawalpindi in the hope that a spillover of Taliban terror into Russias unstable southern provinces can be prevented. And Beijing, without firing a shot, has inveigled itself into several international dialogue processes, including a trilateral Russia-Afghanistan-China dialogue.

However, if Trump sees the light, the Afghan official said, and follows through with shutting down the terror infrastructure and funding sources inside Pakistan, his long-promised US policy review may yet get some teeth. As the 16th anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaches, India and the world will be looking to Trump to make some key decisions.

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In terror-struck Afghanistan, waiting for Trump to 'see the light' - The Indian Express

There has been an outpouring of generosity in the U.S. for the families of two U.S. Army paratroopers who were killed in Afghanistan last week.

As of Saturday night, online campaigns had raised about $75,000 for the families of Spc. Christopher Michael Harris and Sgt. Jonathon Michael Hunter, who were killed in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the Fayetteville Observer in North Carolina reported.

Both Harris and Hunter had been stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, before being deployed to Afghanistan.

The paratroopers were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) used against their convoy, Pentagon officials said. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A spokesman for the GoFundMe fundraising website confirmed that campaigns had been launched for the Harris and Hunter families, the Observer reported.

A campaign to benefit Harris's wife, Britt, had raised nearly $50,000 as of Saturday night. Mrs. Harris recently learned that she and her husband were expecting their first child. The Harris campaign is at gofundme.com/48091y8.

Meanwhile, two campaigns for Hunters family had raised more than $24,000 combined. The campaigns, to benefit Hunters wife, Whitney, and his father, Mark Hunter, are at gofundme.com/support-for-sgt-jonathon-hunter and gofundme.com/jonathon-hunter-funeral.

The soldiers were members of the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, and had been deployed a little more than a month each, the Observer reported.

Harris, 25, was from Jackson Springs, North Carolina, while Hunter, 23, was from Columbus, Indiana. The two soldiers were in Afghanistan as part of the Resolute Support Mission to train and assist Afghan forces.

NATO officials in Afghanistan said four other soldiers were wounded, but their injuries were not considered life-threatening, the Observer reported.

Since the paratroopers were identified last week, social media sites have been filled with messages of support and condolences for the families.

The deaths of Hunter and Harris brought the total number of U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan this year to nine, Fox News reported.

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Donations pour in for families of US paratroopers killed in Afghanistan - Fox News

A Wright-Patterson airman who rushed to a bomb explosion site to treat critically injured service members was honored by top Air Force leaders in a Portraits of Courage ceremony Friday at the Pentagon.

Sr. Airman Joshua OSullivan was deployed to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan for less than a month when a Nov. 12 explosion near his barracks seriously injured fellow service members, according to Wright-Patterson.

OSullivan, a respiratory therapist with the 88th Medical Group, was the first medic at the explosion site, helping save the lives of 12 U.S. military personnel and an allied coalition member, according to the Air Force.

He received the Air Force Commendation medal for his actions.

OSullivan, 27, an Elizabeth, Illinois, native, was a former emergency medical technician before he joined the Air Force six years ago, according to Wright-Patterson.

He was among 22 Air Force individuals and units to receive recognition Friday at the Pentagon ceremony.

Cox Media Group Ohio staff writer Amy Rollins contributed to this story.

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Wright-Patt airman recognized at Pentagon for actions in Afghanistan - Dayton Daily News

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber struck a NATO convoy near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Wednesday killing two U.S. service members, the Pentagon said.

The Taliban promptly took responsibility for the attack, and a spokesman for the insurgents said the bombing allegedly killed 15 soldiers - a claim that appeared exaggerated as many similar Taliban claims have been in the past.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said two U.S. service members were killed in action in the attack and that more information would be provided when it became available.

In their claim of responsibility, the Taliban also said the attack destroyed two armored tanks. The insurgents' spokesman for southern Afghanistan, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, said fighter Asadullah Kandahari was the "hero" who carried out the attack with a small pick-up truck, packed with explosives.

U.S. troops assess the damage to an armored NATO vehicle after a Taliban suicide attack in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, Aug. 2, 2017.

Reuters/Ahmad Nadeem

Kandahar province was the Taliban spiritual heartland and the headquarters of their leadership during the five-year rule of the Taliban, which ended with the U.S. invasion in 2001.

Eyewitness Ghulam Ali, who runs a mechanics shop near the attack site on the outskirts of the city of Kandahar, said the intensity of the blast knocked him out.

When he came to, he saw a military vehicle on fire on the road. He stepped out of his shop but a sudden burst of gunfire drove him back inside, he said. Then, helicopters arrived and he saw soldiers being taken away from the scene but could not determine the extent of their injuries.

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Shah Agha Popal, who runs a vehicle parts shop also nearby, said he also saw soldiers being taken away by two helicopters.

"But I couldn't tell if they were wounded or if they were dead," he said.

The combined U.S. and NATO troop contingent currently in Afghanistan is about 13,500. The Trump administration is deciding whether to send about 4,000 or more U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan in an attempt to stem Taliban gains.

The attack came as Afghan authorities in western Herat province tightened security ahead of a mass funeral for the victims there of an attack the previous evening that killed 32, said provincial governor's spokesman Jilani Farhad.

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Another 66 worshippers were injured in the horrific suicide assault Tuesday evening. As worshippers began their evening prayers a suicide attacker sprayed bullets at the private guards protecting the mosque before entering inside and detonating his explosives.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, claimed responsibility for the mosque bombing saying it was carried out by two of its fighters. ISIS said in a statement that the two men, whom it identified as Amir Qassim and Tayeb al-Kharasani, also used automatic rifles in the Shiite mosque before they detonated themselves.

The statement claimed that the attack killed nearly 50 and wounded more than 80.

Witnesses said demonstrators brought 31 bodies near the provincial governor's residence in a large freezer truck. Protesters demanded the people behind the brutal assault be arrested.

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On Monday, after taking credit for an attack on the Iraq Embassy in the heart of the Afghan capital Kabul, the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan warned it would strike Shiites. The Sunni militant group considers Shiite Muslims as apostates.

Also on Wednesday the Taliban ambushed and killed Jaghatu District Gov. Manzur Hussain and a passenger in his car, Ghazni provincial police chief Mohammad Mustafa Mayar said.

The Taliban have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks hitting district headquarters, government officials and Afghan National Security Forces with increasing frequency.

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Afghanistan suicide attack kills 2 U.S. service members ...