KABUL, Afghanistan — "The first time I arrived at the fort to meet Dostum there were bloodstains and pieces of flesh in the muddy courtyard," wrote "Taliban" book author Ahmed Rashid.

"I innocently asked the guards if a goat had been slaughtered. They told me that an hour earlier Dostum had punished a soldier for stealing.

"The man had been tied to the tracks of a Russian-made tank, which then drove around the courtyard crushing his body into mincemeat, as the garrison and Dostum watched," Mr. Rashid added.

America's infamous ally, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, is now Afghanistan's new deputy defense minister.

Peace Through Atrocity

Gen. Dostum's rise from his northern stronghold has troubled diplomats and officials who now worry if he can be controlled.

"I wouldn't mind seeing Dostum swinging from a tree," said one Western diplomat in an interview.

"But if we started rounding up all the warlords and everyone else who had committed atrocities, or had a bad human rights record, there wouldn't be anyone to work with to try and bring peace to Afghanistan."

Another Western diplomat said in an interview, "There are a lot of Afghan people who have done terrible things who we have armed and given money to" in the U.S.-led war against terrorism.

"Certainly we know about Dostum's history, everyone knows about it. But I think it is better to have him in the government so we can try to influence him rather than have him outside to cause more trouble."

London-based Amnesty International has demanded all Afghans linked to past atrocities be brought to trial because "there can be no peace without justice" in Afghanistan.

Only the Losing Terrorists Will Be Tried

"I don't think calls to bring Dostum to an international tribunal would be helpful right now because the Afghan government is in such a fragile state," the Western diplomat said.

The U.S. awarded financial and military support to Gen. Dostum during the past three months -- one of several Afghan commanders who have received U.S. aid against the Taliban.

U.S. diplomats and military officials publicly expressed cautious confidence that Gen. Dostum could be contained and help end anarchistic fighting among ethnic warlords.

When pressed, however, they admitted to worrying that Gen. Dostum may take the U.S. money and run back to his traditional modus operendi of betrayal and alleged slaughter.

After being sworn in on Dec. 22, the new U.S.-backed "Chairman of Afghanistan," Hamid Karzai, named Gen. Dostum as deputy defense minister to stabilize dangerous rivalries within the brittle coalition government.

The U.S. is banking on Mr. Karzai to end terrorism in Afghanistan and lead his interim administration for the next six months, paving the way for a grand assembly to appoint a new government in the summer.

"For six months, Karzai should be able to pull it off," said one U.S. political analyst active in Afghanistan.

Looking Out for the Little Guy

Gen. Dostum, a minority Uzbek tribesman, has insisted he fights for minority tribes who suffer discrimination.

Afghanistan's 40 percent Pashtuns, the biggest group of tribes, have dominated Afghan political life for centuries.

Gen. Dostum, however, allegedly led his Uzbeks in attacks against minority Hazaras in his northern territory in 1998 because they are Shia (Shiite) Muslims and Mr. Dostum is, like most Afghans, a Sunni.

He also fought against -- and alongside -- minority Tajik commander Ahmad Shah Masood, who was assassinated just before the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon which killed more than 4,000 people.

Gen. Dostum, born in 1955, is feared mostly because he has repeatedly turned traitor against all his allies, and unleashed his Uzbek forces to allegedly commit mayhem.

From Communist Union Boss to U.S. Ally

During the Soviet Union's 1979-89 occupation of Afghanistan, the Kremlin spotted the young Communist union boss in a Soviet-built Afghan gas field.

The Soviets trained and armed Gen. Dostum to efficiently kill U.S.-backed Muslim guerrillas in and around his northern desert stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif.

In 1992, after Gen. Dostum collected a vast armory complete with Soviet MiG-21 warplanes, he betrayed the Soviets and joined the guerrillas to topple Moscow-backed Afghan President Najibullah.

His 20,000 Uzbeks swaggered into Kabul and allegedly murdered, raped and pillaged residents in the Afghan capital while the victorious U.S.-backed rebels argued among themselves.

Tens of thousands of people died in Kabul during the guerrillas' 1992-96 regime due to rivalries among Mr. Dostum and other leaders.

Gen. Dostum briefly sided with U.S.-financed rebel leader Gulbudin Hekmatyar in a bloody, failed bid to gain power in Kabul.

Gen. Dostum also allegedly helped the Taliban advance in 1995.

"The ISI [Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency] helped broker an agreement, never made public, between the Taliban and General Dostum," wrote "Taliban" author Mr. Rashid.

"Dostum sent his Uzbek technicians to Kandahar to repair MiG fighters and helicopters the Taliban had captured a year earlier in Kandahar, thereby creating the Taliban's first airpower.

"Dostum's own planes began a bombing campaign of Herat" against anti-Taliban commander Ismael Khan, added Mr. Rashid.

Alienated Warlord

Gen. Dostum visited Washington in the mid-1990s when the U.S. was wooing alienated warlords to slow the advancing Taliban.

Nevertheless, the Taliban, backed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, seized power in 1996.

Gen. Dostum, meanwhile, quickly ended his alliance with the Taliban because they failed to give him autonomy in the north.

By the end of 1996, he was using his air force to bomb Taliban positions in and around Kabul, but the Taliban clung to power and later massacred Gen. Dostum's Uzbeks.

During the past three months, U.S. cash and advisers helped Gen. Dostum's' estimated 8,000 troops oust the Taliban from Mazar-i-Sharif and convinced him to work with the interim coalition government.

Prodded by the U.S., the interim government said Gen. Dostum will have a role to play.

"We are in a transition from war to peace," said Interim Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in December, describing Gen. Dostum's appointment as deputy defense minister.

Afghan people "expect" a spirit of "compromise" to create a workable coalition, Dr. Abdullah added.

"General Dostum was a factor, an element, in the war against terror.

"I think we all have to live with the realities on the ground in Afghanistan," Dr. Abdullah said. "We have to work together."

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Richard S. Ehrlich has a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University, and is the co-author of the classic book of epistolary history, "HELLO MY BIG BIG HONEY!" -- Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews.

His web page is located at http://www.oocities.org/asia_correspondent and he may be reached by email at animists *at* yahoo dot com.