Warlord runs for president of Afghanistan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-23 11:41

A powerful Afghan warlord will challenge President Hamid Karzai in the country's historic October elections, his spokesman said Thursday.

Abdul Rashid Dostum decided to run after securing support across the war-riven country's deep ethnic divides, spokesman Faizullah Zaki said. Thousands of supporters feted Dostum at a rally in a northern city, Zaki said.

"He didn't want to depend on his own movement, he wanted more people to support him, and today the people showed that," Zaki said. "He will run for president."

Powerful Afghan warlord Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, during an interview at his home in Shibergan, northern Afghanistan, on Friday, April 26, 2002 . Dostum will challenge President Hamid Karzai in the country's historic October elections, his spokesman said Thursday July 22, 2004, clouding the U.S.-backed incumbent's chances of a clear victory. [AP]

Dostum, like another half dozen likely challengers, lacks the national appeal to pose a direct threat to Karzai at the ballot box. A former communist and commander of a feared militia during the country's civil wars, he is widely mistrusted, especially in the Pashtun-dominated south.

Dostum's Jumbesh militia was part of the Northern Alliance forces that helped the United States drive out the Taliban in late 2001. His supporters have controlled a swath of the north ever since.

Dostum supported Karzai as interim leader, cultivated contacts with U.S. and other foreign officials, and currently holds the post of presidential security adviser for the north.

But he led opposition to the centralized state enshrined in a new constitution pushed through in January.

Jumbesh militias have also feuded relentlessly with those of Dostum's archrival, Tajik general Atta Mohammed, around the key northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Karzai named Mohammed governor of surrounding Balkh province on Tuesday. Zaki denied that the move pushed Dostum into open opposition.

On Thursday, Dostum made a speech before crowds gathered at a hotel in Mazar-e-Sharif, saying he had reluctantly accepted their pressure to run.

He urged Afghans in the north and center of the country to register in time for the elections, while insisting that his goal was national unity.

"Everyone has their dignity. I will defend your rights," he said.

He called the new governor his "brother," praised Tajik Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim and said he had spoken to Karzai, but didn't give details.

He could win support among fellow ethnic Uzbeks and other minorities and help force a run-off if Karzai fails to secure more than 50 percent in a first round vote set for Oct. 9.

Zaki said Dostum had already collected the names of 10,000 backers needed to become a candidate and would hand in his nomination to election officials in Kabul by Monday's deadline.