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Longtime warlord Dostum plays politician

Dostum has met with former enemies and befriended Karzai since joining the interim government last December.

SHEBERGHAN, Afghanistan (CNN) -- For years, Abdul Rashid Dostum was well-known and feared as a warlord who controlled much of northern Afghanistan. These days, he's looking and talking more and more like a politician.

The ethnic Uzbek showed his diplomatic, sympathetic face on Friday, ordering the release of 240 Taliban prisoners from the crowded jail in the northern Afghan town of Sheberghan.

"Tell your mothers, fathers and relatives General Dostum has set you free," Dostum told reporters and the former captives.

Even Dostum admitted the order, which was prompted partly by a request from the interim national government in Kabul, marked a stark contrast from his reputation among Taliban fighters as a hard-nosed and at times cruel adversary.

The battle-tested veteran insists that he does not want more power -- that he now rules through popularity and respect, not intimidation. Dostum says he is committed to building a diverse, strong and united Afghanistan.

"It is time for unity in Afghanistan," he said. "And it is time for sympathies to be developed between different ethnic groups."

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Once a military commander under the communist government in Afghanistan, Dostum was among the warlords that battled for control of Kabul after the Soviets withdrew from the country. Using Russian-made tanks, he then reasserted control over a large swath of northern Afghanistan.

Dostum often employed a mixture of military might and politics, pledging in 1996 to join the group that would become the Northern Alliance while promoting a new Afghan government that would include the Taliban. When Mazar-e Sharif became one of the last Afghan cities to fall to the Taliban in 1998, Dostum went into exile before rejoining the Northern Alliance.

One of Dostum's greatest military triumphs came last fall, when he led opposition troops to their first major victory in the Northern Alliance's historic advance against the Taliban. His forces captured thousands of Taliban fighters, with 3,000 still being held in Sheberghan alone.

Dostum initially rejected the post-Taliban government headed by Hamid Karzai. He joined up only after being appointed deputy defense minister and special representative to northern Afghanistan, then making a highly visible appearance at Karzai's inauguration.

"There are many Dostums," best-selling Afghan author and journalist Ahmed Rashid said. "If you bring up records right now of warlords, you wouldn't find a single clean person in Afghanistan."

Since the inauguration, Dostum said he has become a closer friend to Karzai. The former general has also played diplomat, attending the opening of the "Friendship Bridge" north to Uzbekistan and meeting former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, whose strict interpretation of Islam is very different from Dostum's own more secular views.

"Dostum has tamed a lot," said Rashid. "He's cooperating very closely."

Afghan leaders from throughout the country are expected to meet this summer to decide the country's future in a Loya Jirga, or grand assembly. Dostum wants to make sure that his views and his people -- fellow ethnic Uzbeks and natives of northern Afghanistan -- are represented.

"I hope the Loya Jirga will include all ethnic groups and they receive equal rights," he said. "I hope they will not forget us."