Last week a powerful and controversial Afghan warlord returned from exile in Turkey in what was an apparent attempt by President Karzai to attract ethnic Uzbek voters in this week’s presidential election. Karzai has cultivated several warlords as allies with an eye toward last week’s presidential election. The alliances have drawn strong criticism from the international community.br /The US immediately condemned Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum’s return and raised concerns about his alleged involvement in “massive human rights violations.” Dostum is alleged to have been responsible for the deaths of up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners early in the Afghan war. President Obama has ordered his national security team to investigate allegations in the New York Times that the Bush administration failed to investigate the reported deaths.br /As I learned of this situation the thing that popped out to me was that Mr. Obama is still looking to demonize former President Bush. As I teach my political science students, beware of the politician who spends too much time bashing an opponent—he’s likely got a lot to hide or nothing of value to say. Given Mr. Obama’s long string of unwise moves and very low poll numbers, I’d say that the real story here is Obama trying to deflect attention from himself.
