Saturday, February 02, 2008

"The burly Dostum rose to command ethnic Uzbek fighters allied to the Soviet Union during the 1979-89 occupation, then switched sides to the mujahideen at the end of the war, then formed and broke alliances several times during the civil war, meanwhile running much of northern Afghanistan as his personal fiefdom." This account of his life ignores one important chapter: his alliance with and services to the US.