ABDUL RASHID DOSTUM
RUTHLESS AND LOYAL TO HIS PEOPLE, DOSTUM HAS SURVIVED FOUR DECADES OF WAR
1954 – PRESENT AFGHANISTAN
A common misconception about the Sovietafghan War is the state of affairs after the USSR’S departure from the country. The mujahideen factions carried on the struggle and this time the goal was toppling the communist regime in Kabul led by President Najibullah. But a serious roadblock to the effort was the imposing presence of the self-styled General Dostum, an Uzbek militia leader from the northwest whose style of governing combined local autonomy with rough justice.
Despite repeated allegations of atrocities by his personal army, Dostum’s own worst tendencies paled in comparison to the jihadis and their enablers who prolonged the civil war until the Taliban took power in 1994. Never betraying his own people, Dostum held out in his enclave until Operation Enduring Freedom, when he joined American special forces in rolling back the Taliban. Dostum further embellished his warlord status by encouraging his men to fight on horseback even when under fire.
Dostum’s ugly past – involving massacres and assorted crimes – may never sit well but his experience and longevity leaves him a force to be reckoned with in national politics.