Afghanistan's vice president escapes deadly bombing

Nearly a dozen people have been killed and at least 14 others injured in a bombing carried out at Kabul's airport, where scores had gathered to welcome home Afghanistan's Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum, who had been in exile.

Kabul police spokesman, Hashmat Stanekzai, said the bomb attack hit near the airport's main entrance, where supporters were waiting to greet Dostum. He had left the airport in a motorcade only minutes before the explosion, which officials said appeared to have been caused by a bomber.

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman, Najib Danish, said civilians, including a child, and members of security forces were among the casualties.

Dostum’s spokesman, Bashir Ahmad Tayanj, said the vice president, traveling in an armored vehicle, had not been harmed.

Daesh Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the deadly blast. The Daesh-affiliated Amaq news agency said the bomber detonated his suicide jacket at a gathering to receive the vice president.

Dostum, a former warlord and an ethnic Uzbek veteran of decades of Afghanistan's occasional bloody politics, was mobbed like a celebrity as he left the chartered plane from Turkey, where he had been living since May 2017. His return comes amid ongoing violent protests in several provinces in northern Afghanistan, his traditional power base.

Expectations of the return did little to quell the unrest, with protesters in Faryab province vowing Sunday to continue demonstrating until the strong leader of the Uzbek ethnic minority tells them otherwise.

"We don't trust the government. We will continue our protests unless General Dostum tells us to stop," said Ehsanullah Qowanch, a protest leader in Faryab. Qowanch repeated calls for the release of Nezamuddin Qaisari, Dostum's provincial representative in Faryab, whose arrest earlier this month ignited demonstrations.

Massoud Khan, another protester, said, "We have been on the streets for 20 days now. We are not going to stop our protests unless our demands are met." 

PressTV-Afghans urge return of General Dostum

Key figures in the Afghan political system urge the government to allow Dostum to return home.

Dostum left Afghanistan last year after he was accused of organizing the rape and torture of a political rival. He denied the allegations and said his departure was for medical checkups and family reasons.

Seven of Dostum's bodyguards have been convicted of the sexual assault and illegal imprisonment of Ahmad Ishchi, a former governor of the northern province of Jowzjan, in 2016. Dostum allegedly had Ishchi abducted in Jowzjan and then kept him hostage in his private compound for several days, where the captive was said to have been tortured and sodomized.

Observers say President Ashraf Ghani, an ethnic Pashtun, gave the green light for Dostum to come home and secure the Uzbek support before next year's presidential election, which he is widely expected to contest.

Presidential spokesman, Haroon Chakhansuri, said Saturday that Dostum had been "treated" and would resume his duties upon his return.

Dostum is one of several controversial figures whom Kabul has sought to reintegrate into the mainstream politics. Ghani chose him as his running mate in the 2014 presidential election.

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