Various political and military chiefs have contributed to the development of the Northern Alliance. The former Tajik President Burhanuddin Rabbani (1992 to 1996) is the nominal head of the group and the leader of the Jamiat-e-Islamic (Islamic Society), the largest political party in the Alliance. Tajik General Ahmed Shah Masood, assassinated by two Taliban suicide bombers on September 9, 2001, was one of the group’s most charismatic and successful military commanders. Masood’s successor, Tajik General Mohammed Fahim Khan, was appointed Defense Minister and a Deputy Chair in the Afghan Interim Government in December 2001. Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum, whose stronghold is situated in the northern city of Mazaar-e-Sharif, is the Deputy Defense Minister of Afghanistan. A strong representation of the Northern Alliance in Hamid Karzai’s Cabinet is essential for the stability of Afghanistan.

Northeastern Afghanistan is the power base of the Northern Alliance, particularly the chiefly Tajik Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, birthplace of General Masood. A positive, strategic thinker who excelled in the coordination of warring factions, Masood was a commander in the war against the Soviets from 1979 to1989. In the 1990s, he forged alliances with former opponents and thus extended the group’s dominance to the northwestern parts of the country. His assassination would likely have destroyed the Alliance were it not for the War on Terror led by the US that began just two days later on September 11. Lacking manpower, training and equipment, the Alliance was fortified by the support of the international coalition.

The Northern Alliance is composed of three main groups: the Tajiks in the northeast, the Uzbeks in the north-central region and the Hazaras in the central states west of Kabul. Tajiks and Pashtuns populate the western states, and Pashtuns, who are not generally part of the Northern Alliance, inhabit the south.

The Jamiat -i-Islamic, headed by former President Rabbani, is a Tajik Islamist party. It dominates northeastern Afghanistan as far as the opium poppy fields of Badakhshan. Rabbani received support for his government from Saudi Arabia until 1993, and from Russia and Tajikistan.

Ethnic Tajiks have the largest representation in the Afghan Interim Government. Leaders in the administration include General Fahim Khan, one of the most powerful men in the Cabinet, Yonus Qanooni, the Interior Minister, and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the Foreign Minister. All are members of the Jamiat-i-Islamic. Dr. Abdullah was the chief spokesperson for General Masood until the commander’s death.

Ismail Khan, the former Tajik Governor of Herat on the western border with Iran, is a veteran commander who was celebrated for liberating his people from Communist rule, making education available to all children, boys and girls alike, and keeping the Taliban out of Herat until 1997. He was considered a potential successor of Masood until he was betrayed, handed over to the Taliban in a deal and imprisoned for three years. Khan escaped in May 2000, but little has been heard of him since then.

General Dostum, a commander under President Najibullah during the Soviet regime in the 1980s, and a former opponent of Masood and the Mujahideen rebels, is the leader of the ethnic Uzbeks. In 1992, he switched loyalties and joined the Mujahideen.

The General is based in Mazaar-e-Sharif, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city of two million people near Afghanistan’s northern border with Uzbekistan. Dostum, which means “friend,” founded the Junbish-i Milli-yi Islami (National Islamic Movement), a primarily Uzbek organization reputed to have the best-equipped militia in the country. Dostum’s control had expanded to cover six provinces with a population of about five million when the Taliban entered Mazaar-e-Sharif in May 1997 and compelled the General to flee to Turkey. Though the Taliban were forced out of the city after a few days of intense street fighting, Dostum did not return until four months later. He is said to have received military support from the governments of Uzbekistan, Turkey and Russia.

Hamid Karzai appointed General Dostum Special Representative in the North on March 22, 2002. In this position, Dostum, a secular leader, must convene with strict Islamist leaders in the south, such as the former President Rabbani.

Other Uzbek Northern Alliance leaders include the Minister of Justice, Abdul Rahim Karimi, and the Minister of Mines and Industries, Muhammad Alem Razim.

The ethnic Hazaras in north-central Afghanistan include the Hizb-i-Wahdat (Unity Party) led by military commander Karim Khalili and Mohammad Mohaqiq. The Hazaras are mostly minority Shia Muslims, supported by Iran. The Minister of Transport, Sultan Hamid Sultan, is an ethnic Hazara from the Northern Alliance.