00.01.00

Reporter: Eric Campbell

Driving in car, troops arriving into Salang Pass

v/o: On a freezing mountain pass, the troops of a Afghan warlord look down on a fanatical opponent.

02.03

Soldiers on top of Mountain - view into valley

To the South, the Islamic warriors of the Taliban are fighting a full scale war with the ousted government army.

But these soldiers fight for a different master ... and they feel no fear of the Taliban.

SUPER: Gen Abdul Majitrosi, Commander, Salang Pass

Among us there is noone who wants this war. But if anyone starts to attack us, we will have enough strength to defend ourselves.

02.25

Men running onto tanks

NATSOT

v/o: This is the army of Afghanistan’s great survivor ... the warlord-general Abdul Rashid Dostum.

He doesn’t serve the central government .. but he has long used this fighting force to determine who the central Government will be.

Tanks starting up

As leader of the Jumbish faction, General Dostum controls six northern provinces with the power of an absolute monarch.

His people even call him ‘Pasha’ - the king.

03.06

Walking in Dostum’s war-room

NATSOT

v/o: General Dostum doesn’t normally take time off from battle plans.

But as the Taliban advanced, he gave us a brief glimpse inside his war room as he plotted his army’s response.

Meeting Dostum - Interpreter:

This is General Abdul Rashid Dostum .. etc (translating) - ‘I think we have met before, haven’t we?’

Campbell

I don’t know if we have met before, no, but I think I’ve seen your face many times.

V/o: The meeting had one strict condition ... we could talk, but I could not ask questions.

But General Dostum needed little prompting to boast of his power.

03.42

Campbell

We saw your army today and we were very impressed with their preparedness.

General Abdul Rashid Dostum (through translater)

You have only seen one of two brigades, if you go to other places you will see that they are very much more prepared than this. By help of God, I am not weak.

04.03

Valley of Salang pass

V/o: And it’s here on the Southern edge of his kingdom that Dostum put paid to the Taliban advance.

The Salang pass is the key to his stronghold ... the one gateway between the south and the north.

Driving into tunnel

The road passes through kilometres of tunnels before winding through the mountains of the Hindu Kush.

Driving shot past tank

The last soldiers to try and fight here were the Soviet army .. their ruined tanks litter the highway.

Commander

Except for this tunnel there is no other way for the Taliban to come here. All the passage ways are filled with snow.

It is impossible for the Taliban to pass.

04.50

Mazarsharif - women in veils walking down street

NATSOT

V/O: Dostum’s provinces are a blatant barrier to the Taliban dream of one Afghanistan under ultra-Islamic law.

In the South, many welcomed the Taliban advance for ending the fighting and corruption of rival mujaheddin.

But here in the north they already have peace under General Dostum’s iron rule.

05:29

Market: Shop with TV screens

By Afghan standards, they also have prosperity, with thriving trade and vast reserves of gas.

And most are prepared to fight for their independence and freedom.

MUSIC

Man smoking

In Dostum’s capital, Mazar-e-Sharif, people hav reacted in horror to Taliban decrees banning music and smoking.

05:56

Children flying kites at sunset

They now know even their children would be in breach of Taliban law… . In Kabul they banned kites for distracting children from the scriptures.

But the greatest affront to the Taliban is that women here live normal lives in public.

Isabelle Ahmadi in classroom

Isabelle Ahmadi is three months from graduating from the only university the Taliban couldn’t stop women attending.

Isabelle Ahmadi, Undergraduate

[I/V] “At first I thought the Taliban wanted to establish a strong central government in Afghanistan. It was good. But when we saw their treatments against women, that they don’t let them work or even go outside, we are very worried about our future, what happens with us, because we are studying at University now and we wish a good future for ourselves.”

[V/O] The irony is this is a deeply conservative Muslim state.

By tradition, most women wear full-length veils in public… . Even some students wait till they reach the campus before changing into casual clothes.

07:34

Praying at Mosque

The mosque is as central to community life as anywhere in the country.

And many of its adherents are fundamentalists.

But even the most devout have been shocked by the Taliban extremism.

Isabelle Ahmadi

[I/V] “ According to holy Islam religion, man and woman have the same rights and man and woman can both work and study.”

[V/O] But this war is not, and never has been, a simple matter of religion. The past fighting between factions has as much to do with Afghanistan’s neighbours as with the country itself… neighbours that have played on ethnic and religious tensions here to further their aims. And that, as much as anything, has ensured the fighting goes on.

08:34

Lines of soldiers

Russia actively backed General Dostum to oppose the Taliban.

They see him as a bulwark against Islamic fundamentalism spreading to the former Soviet states of central Asia.

Iran, in contrast, backs the regime of President Rabbani, which is dominated by the Iranian ethnic group, the Tajiks.

Pakistan professes neutrality… but they are widely believed to support the Taliban as a means of guaranteeing access to Central Asia.

09:17

Dostum in war room, pointing to map

When the Taliban seized Kabul, with Pakistan’s apparent backing, Dostum moved his troops to the Salang pass to prevent them advancing any further north.

Dostum

“This is the tunnel. We are here. This is our tanks. These tanks at the road, the upper part, go as far as the village.”

[V/O] With the Taliban locked out, he could plan his next move… to fight them, or join them.

General Abdul Rashid Dostum

[I/V] “We’ll try to stop the war and come to a political conclusion to end the conflict peacefully.”

[V/O] General Dostum is a master at picking sides… and emerging the winner.

09:49

Archive of Najibullah

Originally, he was chief commander to the pro-Soviet regime of President Najibullah.

Storming of Kabul

In 1992, he switched sides to the rebel Mujahideen… led by another warlord, Ahmed Shah Masood.

Alongside Masood’s men, Dostum’s troops stormed the capital.

Najibullah became a virtual prisoner in the sanctuary of the UN compound.

Fighting

Under the Mujahideen government, General Dostum got what he wanted – total control over his provinces.

10:31

Kabul being shelled

But when the government of President Rabbani challenged him, he besieged and shelled Kabul, all the while proclaiming his desire for peace.

10:43

General Dostum

[I/V] “This war was forced upon us. We were against the war, and we were forced to participate in it.”

10:50

Hanging of Najibullah

Just weeks ago, his forces stood by as the Taliban seized Kabul… and hanged his old boss, Mohammed Najibullah.

An act of brutality that could only have made General Dostum wonder whether the same fate awaited him.

11:06

Dostum in war room

When we met him, he was once again hedging his bets… while his army preparing for war, a delegation he had sent to Kabul was talking peace.

General Dostum

[I/V] “My proposal to the Taliban is that there is now no need for war and political problems for our country.”

Battle footage

But the Taliban had no intention of laying down their arms.

Unable to pass through Salang, they turned their full force on Government soldiers who had retreated to the nearby Panshir valley.

The ousted military chief, Ahmed Shah Masood, was fighting a rearguard battle to fend them off.

President Rabbani disappeared, apparently on the run.

In fact, he had turned to the one man who could save him… his old enemy General Dostum.

12:12

Rabbani

We found Rabbani near the Salang Pass, meeting with Dostum’s followers in a bid for military support.

In his first interview since fleeing Kabul, he told me of a plan for a counter-attack.

President Rabbani

[I/V] “We intend to stop this invasion, throw out the invaders and end the war. That is why we have had talks with Dostum, by phone and in person.”

[V/O] Rabbani’s offer was not just to respect Dostum’s authority, but to increase ot through a joint government.

Dostum’s local commanders, mindful of the Taliban alternative, were quick ot endorse the plan.

Said Mansour Naderi, Chief to General Dostum

People of Afghanistan have been asked about the arrival of the Taliban. They say they want the Taliban to die for the harm they have done.

13:22

Salang Pass

The next day Dostum’s full arsenal was placed at the government’s disposal.

As we stood at the Salang Pass, the distant sound of gunfire marked the sound of the counterattack.

Soldiers

But General Dostum did not send his soldiers into battle… he didn’t need to.

By supplying the ousted government with tanks, artillery and communications, he enabled Masood’s men to drive the Taliban back to Kabul.

14:02

Fighting

Dostum was able to wait on the sidelines, safeguarding his empire.

With the momentum now against the Taliban, Pakistan intervened… and, once again, it was General Dostum who was able to play off the opposing sides.

Dostm agreed to hold new talks with the Taliban. Pakistan’s senior representative told me earlier he was confident the two sides would make peace.

14:24

Umar Khan, Pakistan’s Consul General (Mazar-e-Sharif)

[I/V] “General Dostum is a very intelligent and a very clever leader. I don’t think he will commit any mistake which will drag him into the war with the Talibans. I don’t think he would… because it was, you know, an office spokesman who accepted. He would be the last person to get himself involved in this fighting.

Interviewer

“You think he will actually settle with the Taliban against the former government?”

Umar Khan

[I/V] “Yes, I think so – that is what I anticipate.”

15:03

Isabelle in Mazar-e-Sharif

[V/O] At the very least, General Dostum has now ended the Taliban threat to his kingdom…

And however the current fighting ends, General Dostum is likely to be the winner… choosing the alliances that best serve his faction, and expanding his rule to at least half the country.

Sunset in Mazar-e-Sharif

The big unknown is whether his new power will be a harbinger of years more fighting… or a chance to make a lasting peace.

Dostum portrait in street

That too may depend on the next move of this master of the art of Afghan war.

ENDS.