Dostum began working in 1970 in a state-owned gas refinery in
Sheberghan. He began participating in
union politics when the
republican government led by
Daoud Khan started to arm the staff of the workers in the oil and gas
refineries. The reason for this was to create "groups for the
Defense of the Revolution". As a result of the new
communist ideas entering Afghanistan in the 1970s, Dostum enlisted in the Afghan Army in 1976. He received his basic military training in
Jalalabad and his
squadron was deployed in the rural areas around Sheberghan, under the auspices of the Ministry of National Security. According to photographic evidence, Dostum additionally received airborne training and still chooses to wear two first-class "Master Paratrooper" Afghan jump wings. As a
Parcham faction member of the
People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), he was exiled after the purge of Parcham by the party's
Khalqist faction leaders, living in
Peshawar, Pakistan for a while. After the Soviet invasion (
Operation Storm-333) and installation of
Babrak Karmal as head of state, Dostum returned to Afghanistan, where he started commanding a local pro-government militia in his native Jawzjan Province. While the unit recruited throughout Jowzjan and had a relatively broad base, many of its early troops and commanders came from Dostum's home village. He left the army after the purge of
Parchamites, but returned after the
Soviet occupation began. Later on, he became the commander of the
military unit 374 in
Jowzjan. He defended the Soviet-backed Afghan government against the mujahideen forces throughout the 1980s. While he was only a regional commander, he had largely raised his forces by himself. The Jowzjani militia Dostum controlled was one of the few in the country that was able to be deployed outside its own region. They were deployed in
Kandahar in 1988 when
Soviet forces were withdrawing from Afghanistan. Due to his efforts in the army, Dostum was awarded the title "Hero of the Republic of Afghanistan" by President Najibullah.
Civil war and northern Afghanistan autonomous state Dostum's men would become an important force in the
fall of Kabul in 1992, with Dostum deciding to defect from Najibullah and allying himself with opposition commanders
Ahmad Shah Massoud and
Sayed Jafar Naderi, the head of the
Isma'ili community, and together they captured the capital city. With the help of fellow defectors
Mohammad Nabi Azimi and
Abdul Wakil, his forces entered Kabul by air in the afternoon of 14 April. He and Massoud fought in a coalition against
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Dostum then left Kabul for his northern stronghold
Mazar-i-Sharif, where he ruled, in effect, an independent region (or '
proto-state'), often referred as the Northern Autonomous Zone. He printed his own Afghan currency, ran a small airline named
Balkh Air, and formed relations with countries like
Uzbekistan effectively creating his own
proto-state with an army of up to 40,000 men, and with tanks supplied by Uzbekistan and Russia. While the rest of the country was in chaos, his region remained prosperous and functional, and it won him the support from people of all ethnic groups. Many people fled to his territory to escape the violence and fundamentalism imposed by the
Taliban later on. In 1994, Dostum allied himself with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar against the government of
Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Massoud, but in 1995 sided with the government again. Accordingly, on 25 May 1997, Malik arrested Khan, handed him over and let the Taliban enter Mazar-e-Sharif, giving them control over most of northern Afghanistan. Because of this, Dostum was forced to flee to Turkey. However, Malik soon realized that the Taliban were not sincere with their promises as he saw his men being disarmed. He then rejoined the Northern Alliance and turned against his erstwhile allies, driving them from Mazar-e-Sharif. In October 1997, Dostum returned from exile and retook charge. After Dostum briefly regained control of Mazar-e-Sharif, the Taliban returned in 1998, and he again fled to
Turkey.
Operation Enduring Freedom Dostum returned to Afghanistan in May 2001 to open up a new front before the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban joined him, along with Commander Massoud,
Ismail Khan and
Mohammad Mohaqiq. Dostum, the Tajik commander Atta Muhammad Nur and their American allies defeated Taliban forces and recaptured Mazar-i-Sharif on 10 November 2001. On 24 November 2001, 15,000 Taliban soldiers were due to surrender after the
Siege of Kunduz to
American and Northern Alliance forces. Instead, 400 Al-Qaeda prisoners arrived just outside Mazar-i-Sharif. After they surrendered to Dostum, they were transferred to the 19th century garrison fortress,
Qala-i-Jangi. The next day, while being questioned by CIA officers Spann and David Tyson, they used concealed weapons to revolt, triggering what became the
Battle of Qala-i-Jangi against the guards. The uprising was finally brought under control after six days.
Dasht-i-Leili massacre Dostum has been accused by Western journalists of responsibility for the suffocating or otherwise killing of
Taliban prisoners in December 2001,
Karzai administration In the aftermath of Taliban's removal from northern Afghanistan, forces loyal to Dostum frequently clashed with
Tajik forces loyal to
Atta Muhammad Nur. Atta's men kidnapped and killed a number of Dostum's men, and constantly agitated to gain control of Mazar-e-Sharif. Through the political mediations of the Karzai administration, the
International Security Assistance Force (ISA) and the United Nations, the Dostum-Atta feud gradually declined, leading to their alignment in a new political party. Dostum served as deputy defense minister the early period of the
Karzai administration. On 20 May 2003, Dostum narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. He was often residing outside Afghanistan, mainly in Turkey. In February 2008, he was suspended after the apparent kidnapping and torture of a political rival.
Time in Turkey Some media reports in 2008 stated earlier that Dostum was "seeking political asylum" in Turkey while others said he was exiled. One Turkish media outlet said Dostum was visiting after flying there with then Turkey's Foreign Minister
Ali Babacan during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). On 16 August 2009, Dostum was asked to return from exile to Afghanistan to support President Hamid Karzai in his bid for
re-election. He later flew by helicopter to his northern stronghold of Sheberghan, where he was greeted by thousands of his supporters in the local stadium. He subsequently made overtures to the United States, promising he could "destroy the Taliban and al Qaeda" if supported by the U.S., saying that "the U.S. needs strong friends like Dostum."
Ghani administration on 30 September 2014 On 7 October 2013, the day after filing his nomination for the
2014 general elections as running mate of
Ashraf Ghani, Dostum issued a press statement that some news media were willing to welcome as "apologies": "Many mistakes were made during the civil war (...) It is time we apologize to the Afghan people who were sacrificed due to our negative policies (...) I apologize to the people who suffered from the violence and civil war (...)". Dostum was directly chosen as First
Vice President of Afghanistan in the
April–June 2014 Afghan presidential election, next to
Ashraf Ghani as president and
Sarwar Danish as second vice president. In July 2016,
Human Rights Watch accused Abdul Rashid Dostum's
National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan of killing, abusing and looting civilians in the northern
Faryab Province during June. Militia forces loyal to Dostum stated that the civilians they targeted – at least 13 killed and 32 wounded – were supporters of the Taliban. On 26 July 2018, he narrowly escaped a suicide bombing by
ISIL-KP as he returned to Afghanistan at
Kabul airport. Just after Dostum's convoy departed the airport, an attacker armed with a
suicide vest bombed a crowd of several hundred people celebrating his return at the entrance to the airport. The attack killed 14 and injured 50, including civilians and armed security. On 30 March 2019, Dostum again escaped an expected assassination attempt while traveling from
Mazar-e-Sharif to
Jawzjan Province, though two of his bodyguards were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the second in eight months. On 11 August 2021 during the
Taliban's nationwide offensive, Dostum, along with
Atta Muhammad Nur, led the government's defence of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Three days later, they fled across
Hairatan to Uzbekistan. Atta Nur claimed that they were forced to flee due to a "conspiracy". Both men later pled allegiance to the
National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, the remaining remnants of the collapsed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Dostum, Atta,
Yunus Qanuni,
Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and some other political figures formed the
Supreme Council of National Resistance of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in opposition to the new Taliban government in October 2021. Dostum now resides in exile in Turkey, and on 15 September 2024 urged groups opposed to Taliban rule to form a government-in-exile. == Political and social views ==