Gen Dostum Accused of ‘Undermining National Interest'

The National Security Council (NSC) on Sunday accused powerful Jihadi commander Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum of undermining national interest, saying he has prevented the extraction process of an oil basin in Sar-e Pul province, one of his strongholds in northern Afghanistan, an official said.

The NSC has asked the Attorney General's Office to investigate this accusation against Gen Dostum, a key member of the National Front opposition party, a senior government official told TOLOnews on condition of anonymity.

The official said local warlords related to Gen Dostum were preventing engineers of the Chinese National Petroliam Corporation (CNPC) to work on the oil project, demanding "illegal financial benefits".

A Sar-e Pul MP and a member of the Dostum-led Junbish-e Mili Party, Sayed Anwar Saadat, dismissed the allegations and called it a "government conspiracy" to defame his leader.

A delegation of intelligence agency and the Attorney General's Office will travel to the province to investigate the case, the official said. The Attorney General's Office will arrest Gen Dostum if the allegations were found true.