Afghan warlord calls for firings

KABUL, Afghanistan -- An Afghan strongman whose forces have overrun a northern province issued a stark warning to the US-backed president yesterday -- fire the defense and interior ministers or your government will fail.

Even as a delegation led by General Mohibullah, the deputy defense minister, met General Abdul Rashid Dostum to urge him to withdraw his fighters from Faryab Province, the militia advanced further, having taken the provincial capital on Thursday.

Speaking to Reuters for the first time since his forces attacked Faryab Wednesday, Dostum complained he had not been consulted about the deployment of hundreds of troops to the province to restore order.

"I will help with the national army and I should be trusted," he said.

Dostum, who has continued to angle for a top position despite losing favor since helping US forces topple the Taliban in 2001, called on President Hamid Karzai to fire Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali and other officials.

"If he does not, his government will fail," he said.

He said Fahim was only interested in extending his power, and that Jalali had been out of the country working in Washington while Dostum and others were fighting the Taliban.

Dostum, an adviser to Karzai, also complained that US planes hovered over his house in the town of Shiberghan on Thursday night.

"My kids were frightened, but let me say that I am not the type of man to be afraid," he said.

Karzai rushed troops to Maimana Thursday, but they arrived too late to stop the advance of Dostum's forces that forced governor and provincial commander Mohammad Hashim Habibi to flee.

While few casualties have been reported, the unrest is bound to cause worries in Washington about the stability of Afghanistan as the country prepares for elections and US troops pursue Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters.

Karzai has ordered the immediate withdrawal of Dostum's fighters, but so far has been ignored. "Talks are going on and we hope that the issue can be settled without confrontation," a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Karzai's spokesman, Jawed Ludin, said Dostum had contacted Kabul Thursday and insisted he was not trying to challenge Karzai's authority and that he had not sent the fighters into Faryab. Asked what action Karzai would take against Dostum, Ludin said: "I don't think it's useful to speculate."