ISTANBUL—Abdul Rashid Dostum, Atta Mohammad Noor and Mohammad Mohaqiq renewed the National Resistance Council’s commitment to unity after confirming that none would be required to experience it personally.
The former commanders approved a common platform demanding an inclusive Afghanistan, then spent the afternoon excluding one another from the top line of the communiqué.
Dostum’s representatives proposed settling the leadership dispute by military seniority. Atta’s camp replied that a marshal without an army was simply a man whose rank had outlived his troops. Mohaqiq offered to mediate at the Iranian embassy, where everyone could meet on neutral ground under the supervision of their preferred foreign power.
The council also welcomed Ahmad Massoud’s resistance movement while privately debating whether the Massoud name was a national inheritance, a Panjshir trademark or the only opposition institution with an automatic succession plan.
Delegates praised their shared history of opposing the Taliban, omitting the years they opposed one another, joined governments against one another and occasionally discovered national unity when Kabul began distributing ministries.
The proposed command structure gives Dostum supreme military authority, Atta supreme authority over the north, Mohaqiq supreme authority over the coalition, and every former minister unrestricted visiting rights to foreign embassies. All agreed to share power once there was any.
To demonstrate ethnic inclusion, the three selected Abdullah Abdullah as their token Pashtun warlord. Abdullah declined, citing his agreement with Ashraf Ghani as proof that he had already served a full term as a token.
The meeting ended with unanimous condemnation of the Taliban’s monopoly on power. To appease the god of national unity, the three leaders agreed to sacrifice everything they held dear. After a brief inventory of their foreign properties, they offered Afghanistan again.