Afghan conflict

Liberation of Kabul

Battle for Kabul
Part of Afghan Civil war
Date 1992–2001 Location Afghanistan Result Liberation of Kabul by Mujahideen, Defeat of Hezb-i-Islami, Rise of Taliban
Belligerents
Islamic Jihad Council: • Afghan Armed Forces, • Jumbish i Mili & Afghan Intelligence Agency, • Union of 7 Hazara parties of Hezb i Wahdat	Hezb i Islami: • Lashkar i Isar (Army of Sacrifice), • Pakistani Intelligence Agencies, • Arab Islamic Movements, ...and others
Strength
Military Strength: 2 million	Military Strength: 100,000
Casualties and losses
Hezb i Islami : 8000	Jamiat i Islami : 7000
Civilian dead: 1500

By 1992 Najibullah who had been President of Afghanistan for almost 6 years, agreed to step down in favor of a transitional government. The United Nations presented a plan to Dr. Najibullah that as soon as he resigns, a multi national UN force would be sent quickly to stabalize the situation in Afghanistan. But the promise was never fulfilled, and instead of peace came civil strife, instead of Peacekeepers came the angry Mujahideen. Najibullah tried to flee Kabul, but his departure was blocked by Abdul Rashid Dostum's malitia in Kabul International Airport. Najibullah sought sanctuary in the UN compound in Kabul.

Different Mujahideen groups entered Kabul from different directions. Hezb-e-Islami made the first move and entered the city from the south. Hekmatyar had asked other mujahideen groups such asHarakat-Inqilab-i-Islami and Khalis Faction to join him while entering Kabul but he didn't have any luck. Hekmatyar's men had numeric superiority but lacked technical and strategic advantage. They were armed with light weapons such as AK-47 and RPG-7. The Hezb had acquired some surrendered weapons from Afghan Army in the way to Kabul but were not sufficient enough. As they entered the city's southern sector, they faced no resistance. Hekmatyar aired a statement in the radio urging that the Lions had entered Kabul to liberate its people. The advance was slow and steady until the Jamiat Islami entered the city from the north.

Jamiat Islami had allocated massive amount of weapons while over running the garrisons in Bagram, Charikar, Takhar, Kunduz, Feyzabad and other northern cities. Adding to that, all the forces of Junbish Milli had alligned themselves to jamiat. The Parchami government of Afghanistan had surrendered all its weapons to Jamiat too. All the Parchamis had fled abroad through the Jamiat controlled areas. Jamiat had allocated massive stockpiles of heavy weapons such as T-64, T-55, Scud Missiles and MiG-21 'Fishbed'.

File:Kabul 808.JPG

Battle for Kabul, April 27, 1992
Jamiat Islami, Islamic Council, Afghan Army- red
Sayyaf and Allies - blue
Hezb-e-Islami, Lashkar i Isar - green

The forces of Hezb were very far from key points of the city such as the Presidential Palace, Prime Minister's Office, Kabul International Airport, Defence Ministry, or any other important government offices. All of these key points were located in the North Bank of the Kabul River. The Jamiat forces quickly took control of those key points. Although Hezb forces got to the gates of Ministry of Justice and had got control of Ministry of Interior, but were quickly repulsed after Afghan Air Force bombed the area heavily. Also they were supported from the artilary shells fired from TV tower onto Jade Maiwand. Hundreds of Hezb Fighters were killed or taken prisoners including foreign fighters.

In the western sector of the city , The Hezb forces crossed the Kabul River and crossed into the northern bank after taking control of the Karta i Seh area. While charging towards Kote Sangi and Kabul University, They met fierce resistance from the north and were split into two groups after being cut of by Jamiat forces. Sayyaf's forces attacked Hezb forces in a surprise move, attcking them from Ghazi School area.

Throughout the night, the exhausted and ill moraled forces of Hezb-i-Islami, foughted on, some to the bitter end. After suffering a lot of casualties, Hezb forces either in the southern bank fled out of Kabul towards Logar and deserted their positions. For the Hezb Forces who were sorrounded and stuck in Northern bank of Kabul river, They had two choices, either to surrender or fight till death. Most of the 4000 forces in the northern bank, were killed or arrested. Heavy shells were fired in the areas which they were holding. Many civilians fled, but those who were caught in cross fire were not the luck ones.

Kabul fell completely into Jamiat hands in April 30th, 1992.

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

After the liberation of Kabul, The civil war entered a new phase. The new problem was to establish a new government. Finally, The Islamic Jihad Council agreed to form an interim government.

It was decided that a 51 persons body, headed by Hazrat Sahib Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, would go inside Afghanistan 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. The head of this body will also represent the Presidentship of the State during these two months. After this period, this body will remain as an interim Islamic Council, along with the Transitional State and its Chairmanship will be held by Mr. Mojaddedi.

Mujadidi was chosen as the president, Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud was given the position of Defence Minister, Sayyaf took control of the foreign ministry and other parties were given the minor positions. All the main positions of the government were given to Tajiks especially those from Panjshir. Since the creation of the modern day Afghanistan by Abdali in 1747, It had been ruled by the Pushtuns who make up as much as 50% of the population. Islamic Jihad Council agreed that a nation wide election was to be held soon. Although some elements of the PDPA had infiltrated the government in the name of Mujahid, most of the Parchamis had managed to fled the country.Khalq members who were mostly pushtuns, either joined the Hekmatyar or fled to Pakistan.

Soon After the Liberation of Kabul, Hezb-i-Islami started firing rockets at Kabul. Although Hekmatyar tried insist that only Islamic Jihad Council areas were targeted, The rockets mostly fell over the houses of innocent kabul civilians. The new government introduced new laws which were thoroughly Islamic. Strict punishments according to Islamic law were very new to the people of Kabul who were already suffering from Hezb i Islami rocket attacks.

In June 1992, As scheduled, Rabbani became president of Afghanistan, while Hekmatyar continued to bombard Kabul with rockets. The U.N. reported that 1,800 civilians died in rocket attacks between May and August, and 500,000 people fled the city. After Rabbani's appointment, the whole control of the government went into Jamiat hands. The Tajik domination of the control of Afghanistan was the first in since the brief seize of power in 1920s.

The once powerful Dostum/Massod alliance was beginning to crack as the Uzbeks did not get any power under the new leadership. Different malitia factions were fighting over control of different areas all over the country. Kandahar was filled with gangsters as the struggle of the city between three different commanders Amir lalai, Gul Agha and Mulla Naqib was taking place. The bullet riddled city was the centre of lawlesness and crime.

Just like the othere parts of the country, Serious fighting also broke out between the Saudi-backed Pashtun Sunni Ittehad-e Islami party and the Iran-backed Shi'a Hezb-e Wahdat party in Kabul. Both groups engaged in deliberate abductions of civilians of the Hazara and Pashtun ethnic communities. Hundreds were killed, and as many as 1,000 detained and tortured before a cease-fire eventually took hold in June. Continuing tension between ethnic groups erupted in other violent confrontations throughout the remainder of the year. The government backed Sayyaf's Pushtun malitia in the operation in western sectors of Kabul where most Hazara's lived.

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. In a smart move, in November, 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 mujahidin 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 pressured heavily.

Renewed Tensions (1993)

On January 3, Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of the Jamiat Islami party, was sworn in as President. Rabbani's authority remained limited to only part of Kabul; the rest of the city remained divided among rival mujahidin 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 south of the city. Civilians were the principal victims in the fighting which killed some 1,000 before a 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 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.