Afghan warlord’s troops overrun provincial capital

FORCES of a northern warlord overran the capital of a remote Afghan province yesterday, the interior minister said, in a burst of factional violence undermining the authority of US-backed President Hamid Karzai.

Troops loyal to ethnic Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum swept into Maymana, the centre of Faryab province, some 420 kilometres northwest of Kabul, yesterday morning, Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said.

“Today, at 10 o’clock, militia troops loyal to Gen Dostum entered Maymana city,” Jalali said. “They have control of the city.”