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56 ~ TALIBANbaked ramparts and a blue-domed citadel, which Dostum used as hisoffice. Guarded by tanks and artillery and Dostum's well'tumed-out]troops, who still wore the uniforms of the communist era, the impressive!fort was not the only factor he used to win over visitors such as foreign;diplomats who now lined up to see him.He wielded power ruthlessly. The first time I arrived at the fort to meetDostum there were bloodstains and pieces of flesh in the muddy courtyardjI innocently asked the guards if a goat had been slaughtered. They toldme that an hour earlier Dostum had punished a soldier for stealing. Thejman had been tied to the tracks of a Russian-made tank, which then]drove around the courtyard crushing his body into mincemeat, as th«|garrison and Dostum watched. The Uzbeks, the roughest and toughest ofall the Central Asian nationalities, are noted for their love of maraudingand pillaging - a hangover from their origins as part of Genghis Khan'shordes and Dostum was an apt leader. Over six feet tall with bulgingbiceps, Dostum is a bear of a man with a gruff laugh, which, some Uzbek^swear, has on occasion frightened people to death.Born into a poor peasant family in 1955 in a village near Shiberghan,he was a farm-hand and a plumber until he joined the Afghan army in1978. He rose through the ranks to become the commander of thearmoured corps that defended the Soviet supply line into Afghanistanfrom Hairatan port on the Amu Darya river. After the Soviet departurein 1989, Dostum led a ferocious Uzbek militia force called Jowzjan, namedafter their province of origin, which was used by President NajibuUah asthe regime's storm-troopers against the Mujaheddin. The Jowzjanis foughtall over Afghanistan, often being flown in as a last resort to preventgovernment garrison being overrun.In 1992 Dostum was the first to rebel against his mentor NajibuUah,thereby establishing his reputation for treachery and political opportuneism. The hard-drinking Dostum then became a 'good Muslim'. Since then]he had, at one time or another allied himself with everyone - Masud,Hikmetyar, the Taliban, Masud again - and betrayed everyone with undisguisedaplomb. He had also been on every country's payroll receivingfunds from Russia, Uzbekistan, Iran, Pakistan and lately Turkey. In 1995he managed to be on the payroll of both Iran and Pakistan, then at daggersdrawn over the Taliban. 1 Although he controlled only six provincesin the north, Dostum had made himself indispensable to neighbour!states. Now Iran, Uzbekistan and Russia who had propped up Dostuma secular buffer against Pashtun fundamentalism, saw him as the onlleader capable of saving the north from the Taliban. 2 If there wasconsistent trait, it was his deep opposition to the extremist fundamenism of the Pashtun factions, even before the advent of the Taliban.Mazar, once a bustling stop on the ancient Silk Route, had regainMAZAR-E-SHARIF 1997: MASSACRE IN THE NORTH ~ 57its pre-eminence as a key staging post in the now massive smuggling tradebetween Pakistan, Central Asia and Iran. Dostum had inaugurated hisown 'Balkh Airlines' which bought in smuggled goods from Dubai, whilethe truck traffic to the border with Central Asia, just 70 miles from Mazar,provided him with a steady income in transit taxes and duties. Mazar'sbazaars were stocked high with Russian vodka and French perfumes forthe hard-drinking, womanizing Uzbek troops. But unlike the other warlords,Dostum ran an efficient administration with a functioning healthand educational system. Some 1,800 girls, the majority dressed in skirtsand high heels, attended Balkh University in Mazar, the only operationaluniversity in the country.As a consequence he guaranteed security to tens of thousands of refugeesfrom Kabul, who had fled the capital in several waves since 1992,seeking refuge in Mazar which they saw as the last bastion of peace.Famous Afghan singers and dancers who could no longer perform in Kabulmoved to Mazar. It was also a city of pilgrimage. Thousands came everyday to pray at the blue-tiled Tomb of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law ofthe Prophet Mohammed and the fourth Caliph of Islam, whom Shia inparticular revere. Ali is believed to be buried in what has becomeAfghanistan's most magnificent mosque and holiest site. Near Mazar liethe ruins of Balkh, called 'The Mother of all Cities' by invading Arabs inthe seventh century. Here, Zoroaster preached nearly 3,000 years ago,Alexander the Great set up camp and the Persian poet Rumi was born.Balkh flourished as a centre of continuous civilization and Zoroastrianism,Buddhism and Islam before it was destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1220and the focus of culture and trade shifted to Mazar.Dostum was revered for the simple fact that his city had not been touchedin the past 18 years of war. Mazar's citizens had never undergone the devastatingshelling and street battles that had destroyed other cities. All that wasabout to change. Uzbek clan history is a long litany of blood feuds, revengekillings, power struggles, loot and plunder and disputes over women. Thefavourite Uzbek sport of buzkushi, a kind of polo with whip-wielding horsementrying to grab the carcass of a headless goat, is invariably used todescribe Uzbek politics. There are no teams and no rules for the sport, anapt analogy for Dostum's relations with his brother officers.There was a bitter feud between Dostum and his second-in-commandGeneral Malik Pahlawan - Dostum was accused of murdering Malik'sbrother General Rasul Pahlawan, who had been killed in an ambush alongwith 15 bodyguards in June 1996. This feud, together with fears thatDostum had already ordered Malik's murder, and helped along by Talibanbribes and promises of power, prompted Malik's betrayal of Dostum on 19May 1997 when Malik called on the Taliban to help him oust his leader. 3Joining Malik were three other senior Uzbek generals, his half-brother