Ex-Afghan warlord returns home at the threshold of election

KABUL, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- A former warlord Abdul Rashid Dustam, whose support to any presidential candidate can boost the chance of winning in election, returned home Sunday evening, a private television channel reported Monday.

An ethnic Afghan Hazara girl helps her brother hold an image of  Afghan President Hamid Karzai after supporters dropped posters and  postcards from vehicles on the outskirts of Bamiyan, located in central Afghanistan August 15, 2009. Afghanistan is scheduled to  hold it's presidential elections on August 20.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

"General Abdul Rashid Dustam returned home yesterday and would announce his support to a particular candidate soon," Tolo reported in its news bulletin.

His return to the country took place in the wake of mass demonstration by his fellow Uzbeks couple of days ago in the northern Faryab and Jauzjan provinces.

Dustam, who holds the symbolic post of the Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-chief of armed forces of Afghanistan, has lived in Turkey for several months.

His long absence from the country's political arena has caused rumors that the former warlord would not return home at least at this juncture while Afghans are going to polling station Thursday to elect the country's second president in the post-Taliban country.

Leading his own political faction, Afghanistan National Islamic Movement, and enjoys the backing of ethnic Uzbeks in the northern provinces, Dustam plays the role of king maker in the Aug. 20 presidential race as his support to any candidate emboldens the chance for sweeping the polls.