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The Afghan Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum fiercely criticized President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and some other senior government officials last week. Previously, Dostum had made such criticisms due to power sharing issues, but this time he has accused the Afghan President and Chief Executive of favoring the ethnic groups they are identified with.<\/span><\/p>\n This is not the first time that the President and the National Unity Government (NUG) had been the subject of criticism by Abdullah or even President\u2019s camps; but, before this, there were differences between the two electoral teams and then between the two camps of the NUG which was resolved with foreign mediations. General Dostum have also had differences with the Afghan President on issues such as his powers,\u00a0 share in the government and whether who will act, as his placeholder, in the absence of the President.<\/span><\/p>\n What are the main reasons behind the internal differences of the NUG? Do Dostum\u2019s expressions add fuel to ethnic divisions? And what is the nature of the senior government officials\u2019 criticism from the government? These are the questions that are analyzed here.<\/span><\/p>\n \n Increasing internal differences in the NUG<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Right after the formation of the NUG, it became the subject of vast criticisms by circles outside and inside the government, criticism by the later means internal differences, and now after two years of its formation not only these differences are not resolved but it is increasing on a monthly basis.<\/span><\/p>\n At the beginning, these differences were evident between the two teams of the NUG but later differences appeared inside each team as well. In the first days of the NUG, the differences were due to division of powers but later these differences also became apparent during the appointment of \u00a0the cabinet members, senior officials and even the Afghan Ambassadors in other countries. Therefore, a number of the senior government officials either fiercely criticized the government or resigned. For instance, the head of the Local Organs Independent Administration Jailani Popal, head of the National Directorate of Security Rahmattullah Nabil, Minister of Interior Affairs Norulhaq Olomi, the chairman of the Independent Election Commission Yusuf Nuristani, Minister of Mines and Petroleum Dauod Shah Saba, the governor of Helmand Mirza Khan Rahimi, the governor of Kunduz Mohammad Omar Safi and some other officials resigned. [1]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Out of the government, the NUG also criticized by the Afghanistan Protection and Stability Council, in which Jihadi figures and officials of the former government are gathered; the Supreme Council of Jihadi and National Parties Sebghatullah Mujadadi, the New National Front of Anwarul Haq, head of the Green Trend Amrullah Saleh and some other politicians.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The main factors behind internal differences<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The following are the reasons behind the reescalation of internal difference within the NUG:<\/span><\/p>\n Although, unusual composition and gathering around a circle for their interests were the major reasons of the subsequent internal differences, but in the \u201cReforms and Partnership\u201d team, besides these factors, dispute over the leadership was also a factor in internal disputes in this team. For instance, disputes between Dr. Abdullah, Yunis Qanoni and Ata Mohammad Noor.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n From internal differences to ethnic differences<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Differences within the NUG and criticism of the government officials from each other were, to a great extent, due to power sharing issues and political interests. But last week, it was the first time that a senior government official accused the President and Chief Executive of favoring particular ethnicities. In his speech, the Afghan Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dustem said: \u201cfor Mr. Abdullah Abdullah no matter if one is incapable or does not have a good name among the people he must be Tajik. If you speak Pashto with President [Ashraf Ghani], you will be a good person, and if you speak Pashto and you are from Logar [province], then you are very good\u201d[2]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n General Dostum reserved his sharpest words for President Ghani\u2019s inner circle and said that Ghani is encircled by the National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar, head of National Directorate of Security Masoom Stanekzai and the President\u2019s Chief of Staff Abdul Salam Rahimi. He said: \u201che has appointed someone as Minister of Defense who cannot even walk, Stanekzai is known as a Taliban, and it is not clear whether from who he receives orders, he did not gain the vote of confident from the Afghan Parliament, he is accused of being responsible for the assassination of Rabbani, I do not know, for which capability and trust is he appointed to such a key post?\u201d [3]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n In the meanwhile, the Afghan President\u2019s special representative on reforms and good governance Ahmad Zia Masoad also accused the leaders of the NUG of nepotism in a gathering in Panjshir[4]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Recently, reburial of Habibullah Kalakani and building the \u201cNejat- rescue\u201d memorial in its response are the indications of the beginning of the ethnic disputes in the country; but still these actions and the recent expressions of Dostum are mostly efforts of government officials to gather people around themselves and to gain their support. Adding fuel to ethnic divisions are mostly due to political reasons and efforts for more political gains. But there are also concerns of foreigners\u2019 hands being behind intensification of ethnic divisions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The nature of the government officials\u2019 criticism of the government<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n In general it is a democratic tradition that whenever a government official has differences with the President within the government, he\/she tries to resolve it behind closed doors and through negotiations; and if differences were not resolved then that government official simply resigns. But the case of a person, being in the government and in the meanwhile criticizing it, has never happened.<\/span><\/p>\n Although, releasing a statement, the Afghan Presidential Palace harshly responded to these expressions of Dostum[5]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a>; but previously, tensions between the President and the Vice President are usually resolved after a meeting between them. Therefore, probably a meeting would resolve tensions between them.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition, such expressions by the government officials and particularly by the Vice President cannot be that simple, therefore, the Afghan Wolesi Jirga demanded the formation of a commission to clarify Dostum\u2019s recent allegations; because the continuation of such expressions would question the Afghan government\u2019s prestige in domestic and international levels.<\/span><\/p>\n The end<\/span><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> For further information, Weekly Analysis Issue number: 159, >Senior Officials Resignations: Is NUG heading towards political breakdown?<, see it online:\u00a0 <\/span> [2]<\/a> Read more here: https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/sputnik-iran-afghanistan\/1-36<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n [3]<\/a> For more details click the following link: https:\/\/pashto.sputniknews.com\/afghanistan\/20161025811994\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Read more here: http:\/\/www.etilaatroz.com\/42509<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n [5]<\/a> read the presidential palace\u2019s response here: http:\/\/president.gov.af\/ps\/news\/168178<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Afghan Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum fiercely criticized President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and some other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[27,379,41,22,2],"class_list":["post-1936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-politics","tag-afghanistan","tag-dostums-accusations-and-the-nugs-internal-differences","tag-politics","tag-slideshow","tag-ticker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1938,"href":"https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions\/1938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\n https:\/\/csrsaf.org\/en\/blog\/weekly-analysis-issue-number-159-april-2-9-2016\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n