Afghanistan conflict

Afghan Civil War

Afghanistan has experienced many conflicts. A crossroads for Human migration, invasion, and conquest have made Afghanistan a highly heterogeneous nation. Though dominated by the Pushtun peoples (42%), many other ethnic groups are present. These include the Tajiks (27%), Hazaras (9%), Uzbeks (9%), Aimak (4%), Turkmen (3%), and a number of smaller groups scattered across the country. Religion also plays its part — 80% of the people are Sunni Muslims while the remaining 20% are Shia, predominantly the Hazaras. Though each speak their own language, and have their own customs and culture, each group also speaks one or both of the official languages of Afghanistan, Dari or Pushtu. Tribal and intra-tribal rivalries, feuds and conflicts have made conflict a common thread of life in Afghanistan.

Chronology of Pre-Civil War Afghanistan

This is not intended to be a comprehensive history, but rather an indication of the consistent conflict and strife that has occurred in Afghanistan throughout history.

;522 BC–486 BC: Persian Empire takes Afghanistan, but is plagued by constant tribal revolts.;329 BC–326 BC: Alexander the Great takes Afghanistan, tribal revolts continue.;1st century AD–3rd century AD: Kushan Empire arises and expands throughout the region.;652 AD HELLO YEA SUN: Sunni Islam introduced.;9th century AD or 10th century AD: Shia Islam introduced.;1219–1221: Genghis Khan invades.;1370–1404: Rule of Tamerlane.;1451–1526: Buhlul seizes Delhi and founds Lodi Dynasty. Uprisings are quelled, but recur under later rulers.;1504–1519: Babur, head of Mughal Dynasty, seizes Kabul.;1520–1689: Bayazid Roshan (killed 1579) and Khushal Khan Khattak revolt against Mughal government.;1708: Mirwais Khan Hotak takes Kandahar from Safavids and founds Hotaki Dynasty.;1725: Afghans begin to lose control of Persia.;1736–1738: Nadir Shah occupies SW Afghanistan and later takes Kandahar.;1747: Nadir Shah assassinated. Under Ahmad Shah Abdali (1747–1773), a Durrani, Kandahar is recaptured and modern Afghanistan is established. Abdali also defeats the Mughals and takes Herat from the Persians, creating an empire that extends from Central Asia to Delhi, and from Kashmir to the Arabian Sea. It is the greatest Muslim empire of the 18th Century.;1776: Capital moved from Kandahar to Kabul due to tribal revolts, which continue into the 19th Century.;1795: Persians invade Khurasan.;1799–1826: Constant internal revolts plague Afghanistan.;1826–1836: Dost Mohammad Khan takes control from Kabul and forms the Barakzai Dynasty, but is plagued by conflict with the Persians, and Sikhs. Dost Mohammad Khan is proclaimed as Amir al-mu' minin (commander of the faithful). He was well on the road toward reunifying the whole of Afghanistan when the United Kingdom, in collaboration with ex-king Shah Shuja, (the son of Timur Shah and grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Durrani Dynasty), invade Afghanistan.;1839–1880: First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842), Dost exiled to India and Shah Shuja installed as puppet, but is killed in April 1842. Conflict continues, and British are annihilated, with only one survivor of 16,500 soldiers and 12,000 dependents making it to Jalalabad. Dost returns in 1843, to rule until 1863. This is shortly followed by the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1843–1880) after Mohammad Akbar Khan seizes local control around Kabul and Dost Mohammad Khan returns to power.;1863–1879: Sher Ali Khan (Dost's third son), Mohammad Azam and Mohammad Afzal battle for control of Afghanistan. Sher Ali prevails, ruling from 1868–1879.;1865: Russia takes Bukhara, Tashkent and Samarkand.;1885: The Panjdeh Incident which occurred when Russian forces seized Afghan territory north of the Oxus River around an oasis at Panjdeh.;1921–1933: The Third Anglo-Afghan War breaks out and the British are again decisively defeated. In 1921, Afghanistan gains full control of its affairs and becomes a truly independent nation. However, assassinations, coups and revolts plague the nation.;1954–1961: The U.S. rejects Afghanistan's request to buy military equipment to modernize the army. Prime Minister Prince Mohammad Daoud Khan turns to the USSR for aid. The issue between Pakistan and Afghanistan over Pashtunistan flares up in both 1955 and 1961. Afghanistan grows closer to the USSR.;1965: The Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan, after the election of its leader, Babrak Karmal, instigate riots.;1973: Mohammad Zahir Shah is deposed in a military coup supported by Mohamad Daoud Khan and the Communist Party of Afghanistan. Daoud abolishes the monarchy and declares himself President.;1978: In a bloody Communist coup, Daoud is killed and Nur Mohammad Taraki seizes power, with Babrak Karmal as his Deputy Prime Minister. Mass arrests and tortures take place, Taraki signs a friendship treaty with the USSR and the Mujahideen movement is formed.;1979: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan occurs to prop up the Afghan Communist Party, the Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). Mujahideen attacks escalate.

: In fact, factions within the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, were in conflict during the Soviet occupation. The largely Pashtoon Khalq ("Masses") faction, was led by Nur Mohammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin, and clashed with the Iranian-speaking Parcham ("Banner") faction, led by Babrak Karmal. Taraki had had a long-standing relationship with the KGB, but was increasingly perceived as being "painfully vain", referring to himself as the "Great Leader of the April Revolution" and even made the heretical claim that this act was on a par with, if not greater to, the Bolshevik October Revolution. The KGB found the Parcham leader far easier to deal with. He was educated, sociable and more flexible. On October 10 1998, it was reported that Taraki had "died yesterday morning of a serious illness", a euphemism for his removal from power. The KGB also fomented the existing feuds betweens the various mujahideen groups, reducing their effectiveness.

The Transitional Regime, tribal forces and the rise of the Taliban

Transitional Government 1992–1996

Following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, a new constitution (1990) was drawn up. Declaring Afghanistan to be "An independent, unitary, indivisible and Islamic state" and to recognize the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Afghanistan "belongs to the people, and this power is exercised through the Loya Jirga (literally grand council or assembly). Further, "no law shall run counter to the sacred princles of the religion of Islam." Despite these lofty ideals, the nation was essentially in chaos and civil war wracked the land. Warlords fought, alliances were made and unmade, and the rise of the Taliban (1994–1996) brought a new, sad chapter to Afghanistan. Kabul fell, and again, diverse tribal groups formed to fight the foreign presence (the Taliban were Arabs, 'Talib' being Arabic for student). The primary group was the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan, better known as the Northern Alliance.

Tribal forces

The Northern Alliance comprised:

* The Islamic Party of Afghanistan (Jamiat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan), primarily Tajiks, led by Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the alliance. His power largely waned after loss of Kabul and power deveolved to Ahmad Shah Massoud. Following Massoud's assassination in September 2001, command passed to Mohammed Fahim.

* The Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan (Hizb-i Wahdat Islami-yi Afghanistan), made up of Shia Hazaras, led by Abdul Ali Mazari, until his martyrdom in March 1995, when power was assumed by Mohammed Mohaqiq.

* National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan (Junbish-i-Milli-yi Afghanistan), made up of Uzbeks and former Communists and led by Abdul Rashid Dostum. Dostum fled to Mazar-i-Sharif when Kabul fell to the Taliban, then to Turkey when his second-in-command, Abdul Malik Pahlawan, went over to the Taliban, arresting many of Dostum's commanders and, reportedly, up to 5,000 of his soldiers.

* Islamic Movement of Afghanistan (Harakat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan), made up of Hazaras, the primary, if not, only Shia sect in Afghanistan. Led by Ayatollah Muhammad Asif Muhsini, the group fought with the Northern Alliance during the Soviet occupation, but broke off afterwards. Registered as a political party with Ministry of Justice, a rift occurred sometime afterwards, the dissidents forming themselves into the People's Islamic Movement of Afghanistan led by Seyyed Hossein Anwari, adopting a more secular orientation than its former comrades.

* Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan (Ittihad-i Islami Bara-yi Azadi), led by Abdul Rasul Sayyaf.

The Alliance held some considerable influence within the Afghan Transitional Government led by Hamid Karzai, but was often beset by inter-tribal squabbles, with some tribes and clans alternation between support for, or opposition to, the Taliban regime. Infusions of money, weaponry and advisors from the CIA helped to moderate these feuds, but not eliminate them.