In defiance and defence

How a woman police chief from Jowzjan stood up to the Taliban to protect her city

- RAHUL DEVULAPALLI

Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum is no stranger to conflicts, or controversies. His exploits during the war on terror have been immortalised in the Hollywood movie—12 Strong, starring Chris Hemsworth. He can boast of a biography—The Last Warlord: The Life and Legend of Dostum, the Afghan Warrior Who Led US Special Forces to Topple The Taliban Regime by American academic Brian Glyn Williams. He also pops up as an important card in the board game, A Distant Plain.

When the Mujahideen rose up against the Soviets in the 1980s, the 67-year-old warlord of Uzbek ethnicity stood with the Russians. With thousands of troops and fighter jets under his control, Dostum then fought the Taliban under the Northern Alliance banner. He fled the country when the Taliban 1.0 took Kabul.

Post 9/11, he joined America’s cause and spearheaded the ground invasion against the Taliban. War crimes apart, the former vice president was later accused of torturing and raping a political rival, leading to his temporary exile. Dostum came home as the Taliban started regaining control of the provinces. His return raised hopes of Afghans, especially those in his bastion and home province of Jowzjan in north Afghanistan. One among them was Najiba Noor Dilawari, police chief of Jowzjan’s capital, Sheberghan.

“I never thought Sheberghan would fall because there was Marshal Dostum,” she says. “Everyone had faith in him. But the first person to run away was Marshal Dostum.”

Followed by hundreds of commandos and an enviable number of private militias, Dostum fled to Uzbekistan. Najiba is proud of doing the opposite—she stood up to the Taliban and took a bullet.