AFGHANISTAN - Dec. 24 - Dostum Appointed As Deputy Defence Minister.

Hamid Karzai appoints Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, a 47-year-old ethnic Uzbek factional leader, as deputy to Defence Minister Mohammad Fahim. Emerging from a meeting with Karzai and Fahim at the presidential palace, Dostum says: "This is a great honour for me. We promise the government that we support them, and what we can do for them, we will - not just in the north, but everywhere in Afghanistan". (Dostum's inclusion in the government is widely seen as a pragmatic move by Karzai to strengthen his new administration and keep his pledge to end factional fighting. By drafting Dostum, Karzai virtually guarantees security in a key section of the country around Dostum's base of Mazar-i-Sharif. Dostum has run Mazar-i-Sharif as his personal fiefdom for much of the past decade, even printing his own money. In addition, the move essentially neutralises a man who briefly threatened to boycott Karzai's interim government and could have undercut the new leadership before it had a chance to get started. Hashmatullah Moslih, who was an aide to former president Burhanuddin Rabbani and now is a private political analyst in Kabul, said: "Karzai will lose a lot if there's a political mutiny or a military mutiny. He's trying to avoid that".

But he said Dostum's appointment may provide only temporary security. Putting the Uzbek leader in a powerful position, Moslih said, could lead to further resentment among Pashtuns. Even though Karzai is a Pashtun, Moslih said, Pashtuns say they are underrepresented in the military. That resentment could hurt Karzai, particularly if Dostum makes any major missteps, Moslih said, adding: "From now on, any mistake of Dostum will be read as a mistake of Karzai". It also remains unclear whether Dostum, who is used to being treated as well-armed royalty, is satisfied with being named Fahim's deputy, rather than getting a cabinet post of his own. Fahim and Dostum were the two most powerful generals in the Northern Alliance. Relations between the two seemed to chill when Dostum initially said he would not support the new government agreed upon by Afghan representatives who met last month in Bonn. Dostum said he thought his supporters were underrepresented in the new administration. He later relented and said he would support the Karzai-led government).