Gun Battle Between Ethnic Factions Roils Afghanistan’s Capital

[pakistani342]

Civil war -- not just yet -- but not promising.

Article here, excerpts below:

KABUL, Afghanistan — Militia forces loyal to the Afghan vice president, the former warlord Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, fought a gun battle with a group of northern Tajik demonstrators in the heart of Kabul on Thursday, leaving at least one person dead and several wounded in a chaotic scene that shook the country’s civil-war fault lines from a generation ago.

...

President Ashraf Ghani called an emergency meeting of his national security council, officials said, but General Dostum would not attend. Western diplomats were trying to intervene to calm the situation.

It was a troubling start to an already challenging month ahead for Mr. Ghani’s government. The government faces a test from a different ethnic demonstration — led by the Hazara minority — scheduled to take place in another part of Kabul on Friday. And important political deadlines for the government were already being missed because of an intensifying political opposition and governmental infighting.

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[!eon]

I can't understand how are Afghanistan and Pakistan better today than 1999, as NATO and their local stooges claim.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

expected , once again I remind that I told you so .... only way this region clears is when we take over it

 

[That Guy]

Ghani's time may be coming to an end. The 3 big evils are starting to loosen his hold on power:

1) Abdullah Abdullah is now publicly speaking against Ghani and their unity government, which has lead to instability within the halls of government.

2) Hamid Karzai is starting to actively undermine Ghani, where as before he was acting in the background. I firmly believe that Karzai is actively helping to cause more chaos, so that he can retake power.

3) The military, and the militias under the control of warlords such as Dostum, are getting restless and angry. This may lead to a military intervention, if Ghani is not careful in his approach.

Allah knows best, I can only guess as to what will happen. I wish Afghanistan well.

 

[Taimoor Khan]

Interesting!! Seems like the rabid anti-Pakistan northern alliance is now up arms against each other.

 

[GenerallyKhan]

Ashraf Ghani is a brilliant academic but he is the wrong person for Afghanistan considering what its going through.

 

[That Guy]

Ashraf Ghani is a brilliant academic but he is the wrong person for Afghanistan considering what its going through.

He was and is the right person, so the problem isn't Ghani, it is the people surrounding him. Ghani KNOWS what he has to do, but he can't do it, because everyone surrounding him is actively trying to destroy his government.

 

[GenerallyKhan]

He was and is the right person, so the problem isn't Ghani, it is the people surrounding him. Ghani KNOWS what he has to do, but he can't do it, because everyone surrounding him is actively trying to destroy his government.

Precisely.

Ghani is an idealist and now is not the time for idealism. Afghanistan needs someone who is practical and morally flexible to cut the sort of deals required to push Afghanistan forward. Ethnic divisions in Afghanistan can't be managed by idealism, it requires true grit.

 

[That Guy]

Precisely.

Ghani is an idealist and now is not the time for idealism. Afghanistan needs someone who is practical and morally flexible to cut the sort of deals required to push Afghanistan forward. Ethnic divisions in Afghanistan can't be managed by idealism, its requires true grit.

I'd argue Ghani has been cutting deals, which is why he has lasted this long. There is literally no one else in Afghanistan, other than Hamid Karzai, capable of leading Afghanistan. Abdullah Abdullah has shown he's far more incompetent than he lets on in public, Dostum is a warlord, everyone else is simply in it for themselves.

Ghani is far from being an idealist.

 

[GenerallyKhan]

I'd argue Ghani has been cutting deals, which is why he has lasted this long. There is literally no one else in Afghanistan, other than Hamid Karzai, capable of leading Afghanistan. Abdullah Abdullah has shown he's far more incompetent than he lets on in public, Dostum is a warlord, everyone else is simply in it for themselves.

Ghani is far from being an idealist.

Ghani has only cut deals when he has been forced to. This leaves an impression that Ghani is more of a technocrat than a seasoned politician. You don't have to take my word for it: Afghanistan's Theorist-In-Chief

 

[That Guy]

Ghani has only cut deals when he has been forced to. This leaves an impression that Ghani is more of a technocrat than a seasoned politician. You don't have to take my word for it: Afghanistan's Theorist-In-Chief

Every politician cuts deal only when they're forced to. Again, he's the only politician qualified to run Afghanistan.

 

[GenerallyKhan]

Every politician cuts deal only when they're forced to. Again, he's the only politician qualified to run Afghanistan.

Except the good ones know when to make a deal. Ghani is lacking temperamentally. This is not my 'theory', its what people around him are saying: Afghanistan has many problems. Its president may be one of them.