Let’s peep into a very simple question: What is common between Erdogan and Rasheed Dostam? Erdown is an Islamist; Dostam is a communist. Erdogan enjoys a very good repute; Dostam is admittedly the worst warlord of Afghanistan. The difference between the two ranges a wide spectrum from practice to policy. I wonder what the bond that brings them together is.
Dostam is an Uzbek warlord with a very bad, rather worst repute amongst the Afghan warlords. In 2016 he raped his political opponent and the victim was a white beard old man, a former governor of Jozjan. As per media reports, “He is blamed for some of the worst atrocities in the country’s long-running civil war but joined its national unity government in 2014. The allegations against him come from Ahmad Eshchi, a former ally, who says he suffered days of severe beatings and sexual abuse at Gen Dostum’s command. He said the vice president and 10 other men assaulted him while he was forcibly kept at Gen Dostum’s residence in November 2016.
And here is the victim’s account. 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. He said: “(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 to bring me out of the car. He ordered his eight guards to undress me. They even [pulled] off my trousers.”
The incident was horrible. US and allied forces asked Afghans to take serious action. Dostam had no way out to escape the arrest and trial. At this stage, Tayyip Erdogan came to his rescue. Dostam was taken to Turkey. He remained there in exile for two years.
In 2006, Dostam was charged with the same crime and he left Afghanistan for the same destination. Turkey.
Every state has the right to formulate its foreign policy as per its interests. So I am not going to question the foreign policy of Turkey. What I want to question is the unnecessary simplicity and innocence of Pakistani people who find a savior in every Muslim ruler who has the acumen to pass some emotional remarks.
We must grow up and we must realize that foreign policy is not that simple a thing. After all Erdowan and Dostam are not working together for the glory of Islam. It is Turk nationalism that dictates the policies of Turkey. Uzbeks are Turkmen Mongols with the Turk dialect. Rest is not that ambiguous
Just connect the dots and you will find the factor that dictates the foreign policy of the nation-states.
