WORLD BRIEFING / AFGHANISTAN
President Hamid Karzai chose a powerful warlord accused of rights abuses as one of his vice presidential running mates, hours before leaving for meetings in Washington with President Obama and Pakistan’s president.
The selection of Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a top commander in the Jamiat-e-Islami during the 1990s civil war, drew criticism from rights groups.
A 2005 Human Rights Watch report, “Blood-Stained Hands,” found “credible and consistent evidence of widespread and systematic human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law” committed by Jamiat commanders, including Fahim.
Karzai was “insulting the country” with the choice, the New York-based group said.
Fahim served as one of two vice presidents in Karzai’s interim government.
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