Enter the brute Arumour that had gained amazing currency over the five weeks since the United States began its war against terrorism in Afghanistan, was the death of Uzbek warlord and key Northern Alliance player, Abdul Rashid Dostum. Soon after the strikes began on October 7, the Moscowbased TV6 reported that 'two people, one of them identified as Dostum, had been killed in an air strike.' Closer home, one evening not too long ago, the rumour resurfaced at an antiwar sitin organised at New Delhi's V.P. House. It was, however, instantly dismissed by a correspondent from the Qatarbased AlJazeera television channel, who also happened to be present on the occasion. Not only was he alive, but was, in fact, busy kicking Taliban soldiers out of MazariSharif,which he emphatically won back on November 9. The 46yearold general - whose forces control much of northern Afghanistan, and who lost MazariSharif to the Taliban in August 1999 - is one of the most controversial frontrunners of the Northern Alliance. Harddrinking, flamboyant and brutal, Dostum, who heads the second largest party of the Alliance, has over the years allied and fallen out with all the political options in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. A farmer's son, Dostum left school at the age of 15 to work for a Sovietbuilt, staterun, natural gas pipeline in northern Afghanistan. He gained prominence here as the leader of the fieldworkers' union. At 23, he banded together a fierce force of Uzbeks, the prominent ethnic minority of the region. This force sided with the Russians when they invaded Afghanistan at the end of 1979. The General continued with his allegiance to the Russians even after they left in 1989 and led his militia against the mujahedeen forces who were fighting to end Soviet domination in Afghanistan. But by 1992, he foresaw the end of Soviet power in the country and switched sides, helping to overthrow Moscow's chosen ruler, President Najibullah, in Kabul. Later Dostum even befriended the Taliban when it came into power in 1996. However, after falling out with the Taliban, the General made it clear that he would never submit to a government under which 'there be no whisky and no music.' He then took refuge in Turkey and returned to Afghanistan only earlier this year when he compromised and reached an agreement with his former rival Ahmad Shah Masood to fight jointly against the Taliban. Through all his political manoeuvrings, Dostum has accumulated much wealth and a reputation for savagery that matches that of the Taliban. By 1997, he was lording over Mazari Sharif,which has a population of approximately two million, treating it like his private fiefdom. According to a biography put together by Pakistan's military intelligence service (which by this time was supporting the Taliban), Dostum set up his own airline, Balkh Air with two Britishmade jets that went to destinations in Central Asia and the Persian Gulf, issued his own currency and even promoted his own culture which was a far cry from the repressive Taliban diktat. The shops in his area were said 'to be full of imported goods brought in from Dubai; while local cinemas show Indian movies, and Russian vodka and German beer is freely available.' The General also surrounded himself with the sort of show that befitted his status as lord of MazariSharif. He was reported to have imported peacocks from France for his gardens. His trusted lieutenants lived an equally kingsize life. Like his Washington representative, Humayun Naderi, who was known to drive a red sports car upholstered with tiger skin seats during his visits to Afghanistan. Naderi's uncle, Jaffar, who is an antiTaliban commander, reportedly warms up for battle with a little bit of heavy metal. Jaffar's taste in music is not surprising, given that he was expelled from an English public school and went on to join an American Harley Davidson gang before he returned home to Afghanistan. But it was Dostum's militia - as many as 50,000 Uzbek fighters including three infantry divisions and an armoured brigade - which really struck terror in the region. According to Human Rights Watch, a human rights organisation based in New York, 'General Dostum has a particularly wretched record across the board.' Along with all the pillage and gore, he is remembered for punishing a soldier accused of stealing by crushing his body under a tank. In May 1997, his Uzbek soldiers, as part of the Northern Alliance's combined forces, killed around 2,000 Taliban prisoners of war at Mazari Sharif. The brutal killings were carried out by General Abdul Malik, Dostum's secondincommand (that is until Dostum fell out with him). Some of the Taliban prisoners were thrown down wells and then blasted with grenades. At least 1,250 of them were killed in sealed containers. His forces also raped women and young girls in Kabul, mutilating their bodies grotesquely when they were finished with them. Dostum is, of course, exceedingly proud of his militia. It helps that his band of soldiers is the besttrained and bestequipped in Afghanistan today. He is also proud of the machismo of MazariSharif,now back under his control. Before the Taliban seized it from Dostum, the dusty town of MazariSharif reflected the toughness of its leader. The streets mirrored the spirit with its abandoned tanks (leftover from the days of Soviet occupation) and hulking pickup trucks. The market places sold everything from music to satellite phones.And the local men were, like their leader, all about brute force. According to a British reporter who visited the town before it was taken over by the Taliban, when a somewhat scrawny visitor inquired about the price of a volume of plays from a bookshop in the market, the merchant suggested he buy a set of chest expanders instead. Dostum was always said to enjoy much popular support, with his photograph prominently displayed in shops and office buildings. At one time his supporters called him Pasha - an ancient term used for rulers of the region. In keeping with the title, the flamboyant General often regards himself as a latterday Tamerlane, the Uzbek horseman who conquered Afghanistan in the 14th century and started an empire that stretched from Baghdad to the western frontier of China. The difference though, between that Uzbek horseman and this Uzbek General, is that this General has relatively short and chequered spells of good fortune.