‘Taliban still a threat to Afghanistan’ - minister

Members of Afghanistan’s overthrown Taliban militia who have ‘‘simply changed their turban colour’’ and melted into the population represent a threat to the interim government’s stability, the deputy defence minister has warned.

‘‘The Taliban cannot wage war against us, but they can still create huge problems like committing acts of terrorism and kidnapping our people,’’ General Rashid Dostum said yesterday in northern Afghanistan. ‘‘There are still risks.’’

Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek warlord, was a key member of the Northern Alliance that swept into Kabul and a major power broker in northern Afghanistan and its main city, Mazar-e-Sharif.

His appointment on Monday to the post of deputy defence minister was seen as an attempt by interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai to bolster support for the transitional government, which took office last weekend.

Dostum had been angry because the key ministries of defence, foreign affairs and the interior all went to an ethnic Tajik group from the Panjshir valley.

Hundreds of local commanders and politicians waited yesterday at the guest residence outside Dostum’s compound in the town of Shibergan to congratulate the general on his appointment. He told foreign reporters that he was concerned many Taliban remained in the region.

‘‘They have simply changed their turban colour. They have changed their uniform,’’ he said.

Dostum said he was willing to commit as many as 15,000 soldiers to hunt for terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden and members of his al Qaida organization, blamed for the September 11 terrorist attacks.