Civil war in Afghanistan

Afghan Civil War (1992-1996 period)
Part of the Afghan Civil War
Date April 30, 1992–September 27, 1996 Location Afghanistan Result Taliban victory in most of the country
Belligerents
Islamic State of Afghanistan, Jamiat-e Islami, Shura-e Nazar, Ittehad-I Islami Bara-yi Azadi Afghanistan	Hezbi Islami and allies, Hezbe Wahdat, Harakat-e Islami-yi Afghanistan, Junbish-e Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan	Taliban (from 1994)
Commanders
Burhanuddin Rabbani, Ahmad Shah Massoud, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf	Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, , Abdul Ali Mazari, Karim Khalili, Hossein Anwari, Abdul Rashid Dostum	Mohammed Omar
Dostum, previously allied with Massoud, joined forces with Hekmatyar in 1994. Wahdat worked with the Islamic Government of Afghanistan until it withdrew in late 1992 joining Hezb-I Islami. Harakat generally fought with Wahdat against Ittehad, however occasionally it fought against Wahdat as well.

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The 1992 to 1996 phase of the Civil war in Afghanistan began with the resignation of President Najibullah from the Government of Afghanistan and the entrance of the Mujahideen groups into Kabul. The fighting involved multiple factions and up until the Taliban entered the city in 1996, was largely fought on three fronts. The West of the city was controlled largely by Hezbe Wahdat and the Jamiat-allied Ittehad-I Ismalim The North of the city was under control of Ahmed Shah Massoud’s forces and Jamiat-e Islami while the south was largely under control of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezbi Islami.

Political background

After the fall of the Soviet Union the civil war entered a new phase. On 10 April 1992, U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali presented a plan to the Mujahedin parties which they approved of. On April 15th, as Najibullah intended to resign, the chief UN mediator, Benon Sevan flew into Kabul with members of the Shura. The intention was to fly the Shura members in, and fly Najibullah out, however at the Kabul airport Najibullah was prevented from leaving by the forces of General Dostum. He instead took flight into the UN compound until he was killed by the Taliban in 1996. On April 26 1992, leaders in Pakistan signed the Peshawar Accords. These were designed to create a interim government and they established a timetable for elections. The new problem was to establish a new government. The Islamic Jihad Council agreed to form an interim government. It was decided that a 51 man body, headed by Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, would go inside Kabul so that they could take over power from the present rulers of Kabul completely, and without any terms and conditions during the two months period. Massoud was to become ministry of defense. The head of this body would also be the President of the State during this two month period. After this period, this body would remain as an interim Islamic Council government, along with the Transitional State, and its Chairmanship would be held by Mojaddedi.

Following the 51 man Loya Jirga, Burhanuddin Rabbani was appointed president. Massoud retained his position as minister of defense, General Mohammad Qasim Fahim became the ministry of the interior, while Mohammed Arif was appointed ministry of intelligence, a position he retained after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Abdul Rasul Sayyaf was appointed foreign minister. However this new agreement largely excluded the Shia political parties ^[1] and as a result Hezb-I Wahdat would later withdraw from the government and join the forces of Hezb-I Islami.

Although some elements of the PDPA had infiltrated the government in the name of Mojadeddi, most of the Parchamis had managed to flee the country. Khalq members who were mostly Pashtuns, either joined Gulbuddin Hekmatyar or fled to Pakistan.

Timeline

1992

April-May – Fighting between Jamiat and Junbushi against Hezb-e Islami

The immediate objective of the government was to defeat the forces acting against the government, particularly Hezb-I Islami but later to include Wahdat, Junbushi and Harakat Islami. The forces of Jamiat and Shura-I Nazar entered the city, with agreement from Nabi Azimi and the Commander of the Kabul Garrision, General Abdul Wahid Baba Jan that they would enter the city through Bagram, Panjshir, Salang and Kabul Airport. ^[2] Many government forces, including generals, joined Jamiat, ^[3] including the forces of General Baba Jan, who was at the time in charge of the garrison of Kabul. On April 27, all major parties had entered the city. >^[4].

Meanwhile in Western Kabul, an area that would later see some of the fiercest fighting and greatest massacres of the war, Sayyaf’s mostly Pashtoon forces began to enter the city from Paghman and Maidan Shah. ^[5]

What started as sporadic street fighting immediately became an organized urban war. The command center of the Kabul garrison housed several Generals, including Nabi Azimi, General Baba Jan, Dr. Abdul Rahman, Commander Panah Khan and other remnants of the government forces who were still in charge.

On May 5-6, 1992, Hizb-i Islami subjected Kabul to a heavy artillery bombardment, killing and injuring an unknown number of civilians. On May 23, 1992, despite a cease-fire, the forces of Junbish-i Milli bombarded Hizb-i Islami positions in Bini Hissar, Kalacha and Kart-iNau.

Peace talks on May 25, 1992 originally agreed to give Hekmatyar the presidency however this lasted less than a week after it was claimed that Hekmatyar had attempted to shoot down the plain of President Mujaddidi. >^[6]. Furthermore as part of the peace talks Hekmatyar was demanding the departure of Dostum’s forces which would have altered dramatically titled the scales. </ref>^[7].

On the May 30, 1992, during fighting between the forces of Junbish-i Milli and Hizb-i Islami in the southeast of Kabul, both sides used artillery and rockets killing and injuring an unknown number of civilians. Shura-I Nazar forces were said to have been around the Customs post on Jalalabad road under the command of Gul Haidar and Baba Jalandar, who also were active in the areas such as the military university. ^[8]

June-July – the conflict expands to the West of Kabul

In June 1992, as scheduled, Burhanuddin Rabbani became president of Afghanistan. In Burhanuddin Rabbani, Tajiks ruled Afghanistan for only the second time in 300 years, the first being a brief seizure of power in the 1920s. ^[9]

From the onset of the war, Jamiat and Shura-I Nazzar controlled the strategic high areas, and were thus able to develop a vantage point within the city from which opposition forces could be targeted. After Rabbani's appointment, the whole control of the government went into Jamiat-e Islami hands. Hekmatyar continued to bombard Kabul with rockets. Soon after Kabul was seized, fighting between Hekmatyar's Hezb-i-Islami and Massoud’s Jamiat and their Junbish allies started almost immediately. Artillery exchanges quickly broke out escalating in late May-Early June. Shura-I Nazar was able to immediately benefit from heavy weapons left by fleeing or defecting government forces and launched rockets on positions near the Jalalabad Custom’s Post, and in the districts around Hood Khil, Qala-e Zaman Khan and near Pul-I Charkhi prison. These were met by return fire by Hekmatyar’s men who retaliated by launching rockets at the airport, Microrarion, the palace, defense ministry and the Kabul garrison. ^[10] Although Hekmatyar insisted that only Islamic Jihad Council areas were targeted, the rockets mostly fell over the houses of the innocent civilians of Kabul, a fact which has been well-documented^[11][12]. On June 10th it was reported that Dostum’s forces had begun nightly bombardments of Hezb-e Islami positions. ^[13]

Particularly noticeable in this period was the escalation of the fight in West Kabul between the Shi’a Wahdat forces and those of the Wahhabist Ittehad militia supported by Saudi Arabia. According to the writings of Nabi Azimi, who at the time was a high ranking governor, the fighting began on 31 May 1992 when 4 members of Hezb-e Wahdat’s leadership were assassinated near the Kabul Silo. Those killed were Karimi, Sayyid Isma’il Hosseini, Chaman Ali Abuzar and Vaseegh, the first 3 being members of the party’s central committee. Following this the car of Haji Shir Alam, a top Ittihad commander was stopped near Pol-e Sorkh, and although Alem escaped, one fo the passangers was killed. ^[14]On the June 3, 1992, heavy fighting between forces of Ittihad-i Islami and Hizb-I Wahdat in west Kabul. Both sides used rockets, killing and injuring civilians. On June 4th, interviews with Hazara households state that Ittihad forces looted their houses in Kohte-e Sangi, killing 6 civilians. The gun battles at this time had a death toll of over 100 according to some sources.^[15] On June 5, 1992, further conflict between forces of Ittihad and Hizb-i Wahdat in west Kabul was reported. Here, both sides used heavy artillery, destroying houses and other civilian structures. Three schools were reported destroyed by bombardment. The bombardment killed and injured an unknown number of civilians. Gunmen were reported killing people in shops near the Kabul Zoo. Jamiat and Shur a-I Nazara joined the conflict later in the month, and in June/July bombarded Hizb-i Wahdat positions in Kart-iSakhi, Khushhal Khan Mina, Darulaman]], Kart-e She, and Kart-iChar, causing heavy casualties and destruction of houses. On 24 June 1992 the Jamhuriat hospital located near the Interior Ministry was bombed and closed.

The beginning of the Bombardments

Throughout the war, the most devastating aspect of it remained the indiscriminate shelling of the city by the various sides in the conflict. Although most sides engaged in bombardments, some were more indiscriminate in their targeting. As Jamiat-e controlled the strategic high areas, they were better able to target specific military objectives rather than resorting to indiscriminate shelling as other factions such as Hezb-e Islami had done. During this period, according to a former intelligence office, Jamiat-e had 3 types of rockets. The long range rockets were held at Tapa Sorkh and deployed near the Bagram airport. These targeted Hizb-I Islami and Hizb-I Wahdat controlled areas, military targets and areas where divisions had settled. According to the officer, the 3rd regiment deployed in the Darulaman area, where Wahdat Corps had based their artillery commander, as well as the area near the Russian Embassy where the commander of Wahdat’s Division 096, were particularly targeted by the long ranged rockets. Charasyab, which housed Hizb-I Islami’s artillery, Shiwaki, where the intelligence department was deployed and the Rishkor division were also targeted, in addition to the Dasht-I Saqawa airport in Logar Province. ^[16]

Middle range rockets were also held by Shura-I Nazar and had a range of 20 kilometers. According to the intelligence officer mentioned above, Qargha Division lead by Ahmadi, Jihadi Army lead by Panah Khan, Tapa Sorkh Division lead by Gada Mohammed Khan and General Bismillah Khan. These rockets were apparently launched at military zones and Hib-I Islami bases such as Bagrami, Shah Shahid, Karte Nau, Chilsiton as well as Wahdat controlled areas such as Afshar, the area around the Social Science Institute and the Kabul Silo.

Furthermore Jamiate controlled large amounts of mobile rockets, artillery and tanks which were in the hands of commanders of attacking armies such as Gul Haider, Abdul Sabor, Commander Fazel Samangani, Abdul Hai Khan, and Moawin Aziz.

By far the worst perpetrator of these attacks against non-military targets were the forces of Hizb-e Islami. These included attacks against hospitals and a boming attack on the headquarters of the International Red Cross. There was general indiscriminate bombing starting in August.

The once powerful alliance between the Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Massoud was beginning to crack as the Uzbeks did not gain enough power under the new leadership. Different militia factions were fighting over control of different areas all over the country. Kandahar was filled with three different local Pashtun commanders Amir Lalai, Gul Agha Sherzai and Mullah Naqib Ullah who engaged in an extremely violent struggle for power. The bullet riddled city came to be a centre of lawlessness, crime and atrocities fuelled by complex Pashtun tribal rivalries’.

August-December

In the month of August alone, a bombardment of artillery shells, rockets and fragmentation bombs killed over 2,000 people in Kabul, most of them civilians. On August 1st the airport was attacked by rockets. 150 rockets alone were launched the following day, and according to one author these missile attacks killed as many as 50 people and injured 150. In the early morning on August 10th Hezb-e Islami forces attacked from three directions – Chelastoon, Darulaman and Maranjan mountain. A shell also struck a Red Cross hospital. On April 10th-11th nearly a thousand rockets hit parts of Kabul including about 250 hits on the airport. Some estimate that as many as 1000 were killed, with the attacks attributed to Hekmatyar’s forces.^[17] By August 20th it was reported that 500, 000 people had fled Kabul. ^[18] On August 13th, 1992, a rocket attack was launched on Deh Afghanan in which clusber bombs were used. 80 were killed and more than 150 injured according to press reports. In response to this, Shura-I Nazar forces bombard Kart-I Naw, Shah Shaheed and Chiilsatoon with aerial and ground bombardment. In this counter attack more than 100 were killed and 120 wounded, most of whom were civilians. ^[19]

Hezb-e Islami was not however the only perpatrator of indiscriminate shelling of civilians. Particularly in West Kabul, Wahdat, Ittihad and Jamiat all have been accused of deliberately targeting civilian areas. Particularly after Jamiat joined the fighting on the side of Ittihad, regular attacks launched from the area near TV Mountain indiscriminately targeted the Hazara areas of West Kabul, such as Dasht-e Barchi, Karte She, and Deh Mazang. ^[20]. All sides used non-precision rockets such as Sakre rockets and the UB-16 and UB-32 S-5 airborne rocket launchers.

In November, in a very effective move, Hekmatyar's forces, together with guerrillas from some of the Arab groups, barricaded a power station in Sarobi, 30 miles east of Kabul, cutting electricity to the capital and shutting down the water supply, which is dependent on power. His forces and other Mujahideen were also reported to have prevented food convoys from reaching the city.

On November 23, Minister of Food Sulaiman Yaarin reported that the city's food and fuel depots were empty. The government was now under heavy pressure. At the end of 1992 Hizb-I Wahdat officially withdrew from the government and opened secret negotiations with Hizb-I Islami.

1993

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On January 3, 1993, Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of the Jamiat-e Islami party, was sworn in as President. However Rabbani's authority remained limited to only part of Kabul; the rest of the city remained divided among rival Mujahideen factions. In response, on January 19, a short-lived cease-fire broke down when Hezb-i-Islami forces renewed rocket attacks on Kabul from their base in the south of the city. Civilians were the main victims in the fighting which killed some 1,000 before yet another peace accord was signed on March 8.

Under the March accord, brokered by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Rabbani and Hekmatyar agreed to share power until elections could be held in late 1994. Hekmatyar was named Prime Minister, but by November he had not entered Kabul because of continuing opposition from forces loyal to Massoud and sometimes those allied to the Uzbek commander General Rashid Dostum. The cease-fire broke down again on May 11, leaving more than 700 dead in bombing raids, street battles and rocket attacks in and around Kabul. The parties agreed to a new peace accord in Jalalabad on May 20 under which Massoud agreed to relinquish the post of Defense Minister. A council of commanders was to assume that office, as well as the office of Interior Minister, but by mid-November the power struggle remained unresolved.

1994

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Significant changes occurred in 1994 in how the war was conducted and who fought which side. The Taliban movement first emerged on the military scene in August 1994, with the stated goal of liberating Afghanistan from its present corrupt leadership of warlords and establish a pure Islamic society. By October 1994 the Taliban movement had attracted the support of Pakistan, which saw in the Taliban a way to secure trade routes to Central Asia and establish a government in Kabul friendly to its interests. Pakistani traders who had long sought a secure route to send their goods to Central Asia quickly became some of the Taliban's strongest financial backers. The Pakistanis also wished for a stable government to take hold in Afghanistan, regardless of ideology, in hopes that the 3 million Afghans who for 15 years had taken refuge in Pakistan would return to their homeland since the refugee population became increasingly viewed as a burden.

1995

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In September 1995, the Taliban took control of Herat, thereby cutting off the land route connecting the Islamic State of Afghanistan with Iran. The Taliban's innovative use of mobile warfare appeared to indicate that Pakistan may have provided assistance or training for the capture of Herat.

1996

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In June 1996 Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who had resigned as prime minister in 1994 to launch a military offensive against forces loyal to Rabbani, again assumed the post, this time to help Rabbani’s government fight the Taliban threat. Despite their efforts, Afghanistan's Taliban militia seized control of Kabul on September 27, 1996 soon after government forces abandoned the shattered capital. In its first action, the Islamic militant group hanged former President Najibullah and his brother from a tower. All key government installations appeared to be in Taliban's hands within hours, including the presidential palace and the ministries of defense, security and foreign affairs. Massoud was forced to retreat to the North. He began to obtain military assistance from Russia as well as Iran and the Northern Alliance was reconstituted in opposition to the Taliban.

References

External links

• Blood-Stained Hands: Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan’s Legacy of Impunity