KABUL – Ahmad Eshchi, the former governor of General Dostum’s home province of Jowzjan in the north says he was violently kidnapped and sexually molested on the orders of Vice-President Abdul Rashid Dostum..
Eshchi has accused the vice-president and 10 other men assaulted him while he was forcibly kept at the former warlord’s residence for five days late last month.
He said the vice-president and 10 other men assaulted him while he was forcibly kept at the former warlord’s residence for five days late last month.
Gen Dostum denied the accusation, describing it as a “provocation”.
“He (Eshchi) was detained by Afghan security forces for allegations of funding the opposition and having a hand in repeated security issues,” a spokesperson for Gen Dostum said in a statement.
“For some time there has been a destructive movement by some unknown circles against the First Vice President,” it added.
“He (Eshchi) was detained by Afghan security forces for allegations of funding the opposition and having a hand in repeated security issues,” a spokesperson for Gen Dostum said in a statement.
“For some time there has been a destructive movement by some unknown circles against the First Vice President,” it added.
The Presidential Palace, in a statement, promised a thorough investigation into the accusations. The National Unity Government (NUG) will investigate former Jawzjan governor Ahmad Eshchi’s claims of assault by First Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum and his men, the Tolo News reported.
Gen Dostum is an ethnic Uzbek and a former warlord blamed for some of the worst atrocities in Afghanistan’s long-running civil war. He also served in the past as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Afghan National Army, a role often viewed as ceremonial.
During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Dostum was a general in the Afghan army. He later became an independent warlord and leader of Afghanistan’s Uzbek community. He participated in battles against the Mujahideen fighters in the 1980s as well as against the Taliban in the 1990s. After the fall of the Taliban, he mainly resided in Turkey before returning to the country.
In 2013 he made a public apology for his role in the civil war. He subsequently entered parliament, and later joined Ashraf Ghani’s presidential administration as a vice president in 2014.
Mr Eshchi described the alleged abuse, which he said began with his kidnap on 24 November, in graphic detail, although his account cannot be independently verified.
He said that the abduction took place after a public game of buzkashi, a sport where players on horses attempt to put the carcass of a goat in a goal, between his and General Dostum’s team.
“(Gen) Dostum pushed me on the ground, pressed his leg on my throat and abused me. Then he [took] me to his house. When I arrived [at] his house, he shouted [at] his guards that bring me out of the car,” he told the BBC.
“He ordered his eight guards to undress me. They even [pulled] off my trousers.”
He said he was eventually transferred to the Afghan security service office and then released.
