Editing History of Afghanistan (section)

===Foreign interference and civil war (1989–1996)===
{{Main|Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)|Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)}}
[[File:Kabul during civil war of fundamentalists 1993-2.jpg|thumb|Kabul during civil war in 1993]]
[[Pakistan]]'s spy agency [[Inter-Services Intelligence]] (ISI), headed by [[Hamid Gul]] at the advice of the US and its allies, was interested in a trans-national Islamic revolution which would cover Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia. For this purpose the ISI masterminded an attack on [[Jalalabad]] in March 1989, for the Mujahideen to establish their own government in Afghanistan, but this failed in three months.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/08/legacy-pakistan-loved-loathed-hamid-gul-150817114006616.html|title=The legacy of Pakistan's loved and loathed Hamid Gul|last=Nasir|first=Abbas|date=18 August 2015|work=Al-Jazeera|quote=His commitment to jihad – to an Islamic revolution transcending national boundaries, was such that he dreamed one day the 'green Islamic flag' would flutter not just over Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also over territories represented by the (former Soviet Union) Central Asian republics. After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, as the director-general of the Pakistan's intelligence organisation, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, an impatient Gul and West wanted to establish a government of the so-called Mujahideen on Afghan soil in order to recognise it. He then ordered an assault using mujahideen leaders on Jalalabad, the first major urban centre across the Khyber Pass from Pakistan, with the aim capturing it and declaring it as the seat of the new administration.|access-date=4 January 2017}}</ref>

With the crumbling of the Najibullah regime early in 1992, Afghanistan fell into further disarray and civil war. A U.N.-supported attempt to have the [[mujahideen]] parties and armies form a coalition government shattered. Mujahideen did not abide by the mutual pledges and Ahmad Shah Masoud's forces, because of his proximity to Kabul, captured the capital before a mujahideen government was established. So the elected prime minister and warlord [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]] started war on his president and Massoud's forces entrenched in Kabul. This ignited another civil war, because the other mujahideen parties would not settle for Hekmatyar ruling alone or sharing actual power with him. Within weeks, the still frail unity of the other mujahideen forces also evaporated, and six militias were fighting each other in and around Kabul.

[[Sibghatullah Mojaddedi|Sibghatuallah Mojaddedi]] was elected as Afghanistan's elected interim president for two months; then, professor [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]], a well known Kabul university professor and the leader of Jamiat-e-Islami party of Mujahiddin who fought against Russians during the occupation was chosen by all of the Jahadi leaders except [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]]. Rabbani reigned as the official and elected president of Afghanistan by Shurai Mujahiddin Peshawer (Peshawer Mujahiddin Council) from 1992 until 2001 when he officially handed over the presidency post to [[Hamid Karzai]] the next US appointed interim president. During Rabbani's presidency some parts of the country including a few provinces in the north such as Mazar e-Sharif, Jawzjan, Faryab, Shuburghan and some parts of Baghlan provinces were ruled by general [[Abdul Rashid Dostum]].
During the first five years of Rabbani's disputed term, before the emergence of the Taliban, the eastern and western provinces and some of the northern provinces such as Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz, the main parts of Baghlan Province, and some parts of Kandahar and other southern provinces were under the control of the central government. The central government could not assert control over other parts of the southern provinces, however, in large measure because of Rabbani's Tajik ethnicity. During the 9 year presidency of Burhanuddin Rabani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was directed, funded and supplied by the Pakistani army.<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi">{{Cite book| last =Neamatollah Nojumi | author-link = Neamatollah Nojumi| title =The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region|edition=2002 1st | publisher = Palgrave, New York }}</ref> Afghanistan analyst [[Amin Saikal]] concludes in his book ''Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival'':

{{blockquote|Pakistan was keen to gear up for a breakthrough in Central Asia. [...] Islamabad could not possibly expect the new Islamic government leaders [...] to subordinate their own nationalist objectives in order to help Pakistan realize its regional ambitions. [...] Had it not been for the ISI's logistic support and supply of a large number of rockets, Hekmatyar's forces would not have been able to target and destroy half of Kabul.<ref name=autogenerated3>{{Cite book| last =Amin Saikal | author-link = Amin Saikal| title =Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival| date = 13 November 2004|edition=2006 1st |page=352| publisher = I.B. Tauris|location= London New York | isbn=1-85043-437-9 }}</ref>}}

There was no time for the interim government to create working government departments, police units or a system of justice and accountability. [[Saudi Arabia]] and Iran also armed and directed Afghan militias.<ref name="Amin Saikal"/> A publication by the [[George Washington University]] describes:

{{blockquote|[O]utside forces saw instability in Afghanistan as an opportunity to press their own security and political agendas.<ref name="The National Security Archive">{{cite web|year=2003|url =http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB97/ |title =The September 11 Sourcebooks Volume VII: The Taliban File| publisher = [[gwu.edu]]}}</ref>}} According to Human Rights Watch, numerous Iranian agents were assisting the [[Shia]] [[Hezb-i Wahdat]] forces of [[Abdul Ali Mazari]], as Iran was attempting to maximize Wahdat's military power and influence.<ref name="Amin Saikal"/><ref name="Human Rights Watch (4)">{{cite web|url =https://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands|title =Blood-Stained Hands, Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan's Legacy of Impunity|publisher =[[Human Rights Watch]]|access-date =4 December 2016|archive-date =13 January 2015|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20150113150933/http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands|url-status =dead}}</ref><ref name="Roy Gutman">{{cite book |last=Gutman |first=Roy |year=2008 |title=How We Missed the Story: Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan, Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace (1st ed.) |place=Washington D.C.}}</ref> Saudi Arabia was trying to strengthen the [[Wahhabite]] [[Abdul Rasul Sayyaf]] and his [[Ittihad-i Islami]] faction.<ref name="Amin Saikal"/><ref name="Human Rights Watch (4)"/> Atrocities were committed by individuals of the different factions while Kabul descended into lawlessness and chaos as described in reports by Human Rights Watch and the Afghanistan Justice Project.<ref name="Human Rights Watch (4)"/><ref name="Afghanistan Justice Project">{{cite web|year=2005 |url=http://www.afghanistanjusticeproject.org/warcrimesandcrimesagainsthumanity19782001.pdf |title=Casting Shadows: War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity: 1978–2001 |publisher=Afghanistan Justice Project |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004221455/http://www.afghanistanjusticeproject.org/warcrimesandcrimesagainsthumanity19782001.pdf |archive-date=4 October 2013 }}</ref> Again, Human Rights Watch writes:

{{blockquote|Rare ceasefires, usually negotiated by representatives of [[Ahmad Shah Massoud]], [[Sibghatullah Mojaddedi]] or [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]] (the interim government), or officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), commonly collapsed within days.<ref name="Human Rights Watch (4)"/>}} The main forces involved during that period in Kabul, northern, central and eastern Afghanistan were the [[Hezb-i Islami]] of [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]] directed by Pakistan, the [[Hezb-i Wahdat]] of [[Abdul Ali Mazari]] directed by Iran, the [[Ittehad-i Islami]] of [[Abdul Rasul Sayyaf]] supported by Saudi Arabia, the [[Junbish-i Milli]] of [[Abdul Rashid Dostum]] backed by Uzbekisten, the [[Harakat-i Islami]] of Hussain Anwari and the [[Shura-i Nazar]] operating as the regular Islamic State forces (as agreed upon in the Peshawar Accords) under the Defence Ministry of [[Ahmad Shah Massoud]].

Meanwhile, the southern city of [[Kandahar]] was a centre of lawlessness, crime and atrocities fuelled by complex Pashtun tribal rivalries.<ref name="Matinuddin, Kamal 1999 pp.25">Matinuddin, Kamal, ''The Taliban Phenomenon, Afghanistan 1994–1997'', Oxford University Press, (1999), pp.25–6</ref> In 1994, the [[Taliban]] (a movement originating from [[Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam]]-run religious schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan) also developed in Afghanistan as a politico-religious force, reportedly in opposition to the tyranny of the local governor.<ref name="Matinuddin, Kamal 1999 pp.25"/> [[Mullah Omar]] started his movement with fewer than 50 armed [[madrasa]] students in his hometown of Kandahar.<ref name="Matinuddin, Kamal 1999 pp.25"/> As Gulbuddin Hekmatyar remained unsuccessful in conquering Kabul, Pakistan started supporting the Taliban.<ref name="Amin Saikal"/><ref name="George Washington University">{{cite web|year=2007 |url =http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB227/index.htm#17 |title =Documents Detail Years of Pakistani Support for Taliban, Extremists | publisher = [[George Washington University]]}}</ref> Many analysts like [[Amin Saikal]] describe the Taliban as developing into a proxy force for Pakistan's regional interests.<ref name="Amin Saikal"/> In 1994 the Taliban took power in several provinces in southern and central Afghanistan.

In 1995 the Hezb-i Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the Iranian-backed Hezb-i Wahdat as well as Rashid Dostum's Junbish forces were defeated militarily in the capital Kabul by forces of the interim government under Massoud who subsequently tried to initiate a nationwide political process with the goal of national consolidation and democratic elections, also inviting the Taliban to join the process.<ref name="Webster University Press Book">{{cite book | last = Marcela Grad| title = Massoud: An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader|edition=1 March 2009 |pages=310 | publisher = Webster University Press}}</ref> The Taliban declined.<ref name="Webster University Press Book"/>