Blast in Kabul kills 14, Afghanistan's returning VP escapes unharmed

Afghanistan's first vice-president, a former Uzbek warlord, escaped unharmed, but 14 people were killed in an explosion near the airport as he returned home on Sunday after living in Turkey for over a year, according to security officials.

Najib Danish, of the Interior Ministry, said a suicide bomber carried out the attack near Kabul International Airport shortly after the convoy of the controversial first vice-president, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, had left the airport.

Dostum and his entourage were unharmed, said Danish.

He said both civilians and military forces were killed in the attack and 50 others were wounded.

The local affiliate of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack, according to its Amaaq News Agency website.

In a statement from the presidential palace, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the attack.

Torture allegations drove out Dostum

Dostum had been undergoing medical treatment in Turkey, and is now well and ready to resume work, said presidential spokesperson Haroon Chakhansuri.

Dostum left Afghanistan in 2017 after the attorney general's office launched an investigation into allegations that his followers had tortured and sexually abused a former ally-turned-political rival. He was reportedly barred by the government from returning to Afghanistan.

It was not immediately clear whether Dostum will now face any charges.

"The judiciary in Afghanistan is an independent body and will carry out its duties and responsibilities as it deems appropriate," said an official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the issue.

Dostum, accused of war crimes committed after the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, has also been criticized by the United States for human rights abuses.