High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Abdul Rashid Dostum (born 1954) is a former pro-Soviet fighter during the Soviet war in Afghanistan and is considered by many to be the leader of Afghanistan`s Uzbek community and the party Junbish-e Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan. He joined the Afghan military in 1978, fighting with the Soviets and against the mujahideen throughout the 1980s before joining the mujahideen in 1992, after the Soviet withdrawal, to assist in the capture of Kabul. He is a general and the Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Afghan National Army a role often viewed as ceremonial. In early 2008 he was removed from his army role because of the Akbar Bai kidnapping incident. Dostum spent a year living in Turkey. In June 2009, shortly before the presidential elections, Afghan President Hamid Karzai reappointed Dostum to his post.