A US special forces officer identified only as Captain Mark, left, presents Northern Alliance commander Gen. Rashid Dostum, right, with a memorial plaque, at a ceremony at a residence outside Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan, on  Dec. 19, 2001. Dostum on Wednesday bid farewell to American Special Forces troops who joined his fighters in the battle to seize this city from the Taliban.—AP/PTI