Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)
The 1996–2001 Afghan Civil War, also known as the Third Afghan Civil War, took place between the Taliban's conquest of Kabul and their establishing of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on 27 September 1996,[7] and the US and UK invasion of Afghanistan on 7 October 2001:[8] a period that was part of the Afghan Civil War that had started in 1989, and also part of the war (in wider sense) in Afghanistan that had started in 1978.
The Islamic State of Afghanistan government remained the recognized government of Afghanistan of most of the international community, the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan however received recognition from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.[9][10]
The defense minister of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Massoud, created the United Front (Northern Alliance) in opposition to the Taliban. The United Front included all Afghan ethnicities: Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Turkmens, some Pashtuns and others. During the conflict, the Taliban received military support from Pakistan and financial support from Saudi Arabia.[11][12] Al-Qaeda supported the Taliban with thousands of local and fighters from Pakistan, Arab countries, and Central Asia.[13][14]
Background and history[edit]
Taliban rise to power[edit]
After the fall of the communist Najibullah-regime in 1992, the Afghan political parties agreed on a peace and power-sharing agreement (the Peshawar Accords).[44] The Peshawar Accords created the Islamic State of Afghanistan.[44] From the first day of its founding until late 1994, the newly created Islamic State of Afghanistan (ISA) came under attack by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin militia armed, financed and instructed by neighboring Pakistan.[45] Afghanistan expert Amin Saikal concludes in Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival: