Central and South Asia

Abdul Rashid Dostum returns from Turkey

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(AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh)

General Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ex-warlord and President Hamid Karzai’s former chief of staff, returned to Afghanistan today. He had been living in exile in Turkey. Dostum is the leader of Afghanistan’s Uzbek community. It is assumed that Karzai allowed Dostum to return in order to shore up the current President’s support among ethnic Uzbek voters ahead of Thursday’s elections. Both the United Nations and the United States have expressed concern over the timing of Dostum’s return. The World’s Jeb Sharp reports.

Click here to read a profile of General Abdul Rashid Dostum.

Click here to see a profile of Aghanistan’s ethnic communities.

Click here for The World’s four-part series, “Inside the Taliban.”