Non-state allies:
124-605: The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan ( NRF ), also known as the Second Resistance , is a military alliance of former Northern Alliance members and other anti- Taliban fighters loyal to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan . The founder and president of NRF is Ahmad Massoud . When the Taliban captured Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, former first vice president Amrullah Saleh , citing provisions of
248-467: A "Tajik", is typically defined as any primarily Dari -speaking Sunni Muslim who refer to themselves by the region, province, city, town, or village that they are from; such as Badakhshi , Baghlani , Mazari , Panjsheri , Kabuli , Herati , Kohistani , etc. Although in the past, some non- Pashto speaking tribes were identified as Tajik, for example, the Furmuli. By this definition, according to
372-490: A 1995 report: This is the first time in several months that Kabul civilians have become the targets of rocket attacks and shelling aimed at residential areas in the city. The Taliban's early victories in 1994 were followed by a series of defeats that resulted in heavy losses which led analysts to believe the Taliban movement had run its course. At that point Pakistan and Saudi Arabia drastically increased their support to
496-592: A 2009 U.S. State Department release, the population of Tajikistan is 98% Muslim, (approximately 85% Sunni and 5% Shia ). In Afghanistan , the great number of Tajiks adhere to Sunni Islam . A small number of Tajiks may follow Twelver Shia Islam ; the Farsiwan are one such group. The community of Bukharian Jews in Central Asia speak a dialect of Persian. The Bukharian Jewish community in Uzbekistan
620-473: A 2015 study estimates some 2,600 Muslim Tajik converted to Christianity. Tajikistan marked 2009 as the year to commemorate the Tajik Sunni Muslim jurist Abu Hanifa , whose ancestry hailed from Parwan Province of Afghanistan, as the nation hosted an international symposium that drew scientific and religious leaders. The construction of one of the largest mosques in the world, funded by Qatar ,
744-559: A Taliban insurgency gained increasing strength. In 2010, Afghan President Karzai decided that the only way to end the Taliban insurgency was to call for peace. This process became accepted and supported by all international partners of Afghanistan, except by several key figures of the Northern Alliance such as Abdullah Abdullah, Ahmad Zia Massoud, Mohammad Mohaqiq, and others. The opposition, by then splintered into several parties, warned that Karzai's appeasement policy could come at
868-595: A West-Eurasian component (~74%), an East Asian-related component (~18%), and a South Asian component samplified by Great Andamanese (~8%). According to the authors, the South Asian (Great Andamanese) affinity of Tajiks was previously unreported, although evidence for the presence of a deep South Asian ancestry was already found previously in other Central Asian samples (e.g. among modern Turkmens and historical Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex samples). Both historical and more recent geneflow (~1500 years ago) shaped
992-713: A consequent overwhelming support for India among Karzai's Afghan government officials, Pakistan looked to neutralise this threat by cultivating the Taliban in 2001. The assistance provided by India was extensive, including uniforms, ordnance, mortars, small armaments, refurbished Kalashnikovs, combat and winter clothes, as well as funds. In 2001 alone, according to several international sources, 28,000–30,000 Afghans, who took refuge in Pakistan during Afghan jihad, 14,000–15,000 Afghan Taliban and 2,000–3,000 Al Qaeda militants were fighting against anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan as
1116-482: A drawn-out resistance against the Taliban if they are to hold Panjshir. Analyst Bill Roggio also argued that the Panjshir resistance's "prospects are bleak", although their base was well-defendable, and Saleh could rely on a wide network of potential supporters across the entire country. Afghan specialist Gilles Dorronsoro from Sorbonne University said that Taliban forces could enforce a lockdown on Panjshir, since it
1240-458: A large-scale attack on U.S. soil being imminent. On September 9, 2001, two Arab suicide attackers , allegedly belonging to Al Qaeda, posing as journalists, detonated a bomb hidden in a video camera while interviewing Ahmed Shah Massoud in the Takhar province of Afghanistan. Commander Massoud died in a helicopter that was taking him to a hospital. He was buried in his home village of Bazarak in
1364-575: A leading historian of Iranian and Central Asian history, the Persian migration to Central Asia may be considered the beginning of the modern Tajik nation, and ethnic Persians, along with some elements of East-Iranian Bactrians and Sogdians, as the main ancestors of modern Tajiks. In later works, Frye expands on the complexity of the historical origins of the Tajiks. In a 1996 publication, Frye explains that many "factors must be taken into account in explaining
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#17327721553901488-665: A massive offensive towards the capital of Kabul. Many non Pashtuns in the Afghan military defected to the alliance. After removing Najibullah from power the alliance would dismantle as another civil war would break out between the various groups and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezbi Islami which many Pashtun Khalqists allied with. The civil war would see foreign interference from Saudi Arabia and Iran , as competitors for regional hegemony , supported Afghan militias hostile towards each other. According to Human Rights Watch, Iran
1612-478: A nationwide political process with the goal of national consolidation and democratic elections , also inviting the Taliban to join the process but they refused as they opposed a democratic system. The Taliban started shelling Kabul in early 1995 but were defeated by forces of the Islamic State government under Ahmad Shah Massoud . Amnesty International , referring to the Taliban offensive, wrote in
1736-541: A reference to Persians. The Tajiks are the principal ethnic group in most of Tajikistan , as well as in northern and western Afghanistan , though there are more Tajiks in Afghanistan than in Tajikistan. Tajiks are a substantial minority in Uzbekistan , as well as in overseas communities. Historically, the ancestors of the Tajiks lived in a larger territory in Central Asia than now. Tajiks make up around 84.3% of
1860-626: A return to the chaos similar to that of the 1992–1996 civil war , all the Afghan leaders met in Germany to create a new government. Hamid Karzai was chosen to lead the country and most key positions were given to Tajik members of the Northern Alliance. This created a major international issue. While Pakistan has always favored Afghanistan's major ethnic group, the Pashtun, India saw an opportunity for increasing its regional power by jumping on board with
1984-493: A roughly 45,000 strong military force. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf – then as Chief of Army Staff – was responsible for sending thousands of Pakistanis to fight alongside the Taliban and Bin Laden against the forces of Ahmad Shah Massoud. Of the estimated 28,000 Afghan refugees returned from Pakistan fighting in Afghanistan, 8,000 were militants recruited in madrassas filling regular Taliban ranks. A 1998 document by
2108-528: A stake in the new Afghan government. However, Hibatullah Akhundzada , the Taliban's leader, has effectively ruled out an inclusive government. On 6 September 2021, the Taliban claimed victory in controlling the province. The NRF, however, denied the Taliban victory, stating they continued to hold positions across the valley. As of December 2022, the NRF controls no territory but continues to carry out hit and run guerrilla attacks. A mountainous region, Panjshir
2232-467: Is attested from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The ancestors of the Tajiks constituted the core of the ancient population of Khwārezm (Khorezm) and Bactria, which formed part of Transoxania (Sogdiana). Over the course of time, the eastern Iranian dialect that was used by the ancient Tajiks eventually gave way to Farsi , a western dialect spoken in Iran and Afghanistan. The geographical division between
2356-727: Is the largest remaining community of Central Asian Jews and resides primarily in Bukhara and Samarkand, while the Bukharaian Jews of Tajikistan live in Dushanbe and number only a few hundred. From the 1970s to the 1990s the majority of these Tajik-speaking Jews emigrated to the United States and to Israel in accordance with Aliyah . Recently, the Protestant community of Tajiks descent has experienced significant growth,
2480-994: Is used, it is called the Tajiki language . In Afghanistan , unlike in Tajikistan , Tajiks continue to use the Perso-Arabic script , as well as in Iran. When the Soviet Union introduced the Latin script in 1928, and later the Cyrillic script, the Persian dialect of Tajikistan came to be disassociated from the Tajik language. Many Tajik authors have lamented this artificial separation of the Tajik language from its Iranian heritage. One Tajik poem relates: Once you said 'you are Iranian', then you said, 'you are Tajik' May he die separated from his roots, he who separated us . Since
2604-770: The "Airlift of Evil" . The role of the Pakistani military has been described by international observers as well as by the anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud as a "creeping invasion". The "creeping invasion" proved unable to defeat the severely outnumbered anti-Taliban forces. According to a 55-page report by the United Nations , the Taliban, while trying to consolidate control over northern and western Afghanistan, committed systematic massacres against civilians. UN officials stated that there had been "15 massacres" between 1996 and 2001. They also said, that "[t]hese have been highly systematic and they all lead back to
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#17327721553902728-410: The 2004 Constitution , declared himself the caretaker president of Afghanistan and announced the republican resistance against the Taliban . Saleh's claim to the presidency was endorsed by Ahmad Massoud, as well as by former Afghan Minister of Defence Bismillah Mohammadi , and the Afghan embassy in Tajikistan including its ambassador Mohammad Zahir Aghbar . The NRF exercised de facto control over
2852-557: The Eastern Iranian Pamiri languages . In Afghanistan, the Pamiris are counted as a separate ethnic group. As a self-designation, the literary New Persian term Tajik , which originally had some previous pejorative usage as a label for eastern Persians or Iranians , has become acceptable during the last several decades, particularly as a result of Soviet administration in Central Asia. Alternative names for
2976-575: The Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in Tajikistan, and Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Some of the famous Islamic scholars were from either modern or historical East-Iranian regions lying in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and therefore can arguably be viewed as Tajiks. They include Abu Hanifa , Imam Bukhari , Tirmidhi , Abu Dawood , Nasir Khusraw and many others. According to
3100-617: The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan 's ( Taliban ) takeover of Kabul , The United Front was reassembled. The Northern Alliance fought a defensive war against the Taliban regime. They received support from India , Iran , Russia , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , the United States and Uzbekistan , while the Taliban were extensively backed by the Pakistan Army and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence . By 2001,
3224-534: The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan . Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid Dostum , former allies and enemies, recreated a United Front (Northern Alliance) against the Taliban that were preparing offensives against the remaining areas under the control of Massoud and those under the control of Dostum. The United Front included beside the dominantly Tajik forces of Massoud and the Uzbek forces of Dostum, Hazara troops led by Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq and Pashtun forces under
3348-860: The Pamiri ethnic group that lives in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China . They are one of the 56 nationalities officially recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China . According to the 1999 population census , there were 26,000 Tajiks in Kazakhstan (0.17% of the total population), about the same number as in the 1989 census. According to official statistics , there were about 47,500 Tajiks in Kyrgyzstan in 2007 (0.9% of
3472-477: The Panjshir Valley , which is largely contiguous with Panjshir Province and, as of August 2021, was "the only region out of the Taliban's hands." The alliance constitutes the only organized resistance to the Taliban in the country, and is possibly planning an anti-Taliban guerilla struggle . The resistance has called for an "inclusive government" of Afghanistan; one of their objectives is speculated to be
3596-522: The Panjshir Valley . The funeral, although taking place in a rather rural area, was attended by hundreds of thousands of mourning people. The assassination of Massoud is considered to have a strong connection to the attacks in the U.S. two days later, which killed nearly 3,000 people and which appeared to be the terrorist attack that Massoud had warned against in his speech to the European Parliament several months earlier. John P. O'Neill
3720-596: The Qarluq Turks (see Bregel, Atlas, Maps 8–10) consisted not only of Arabs, but also of Persian converts from Fārs and the central Zagros region (Bartol'd [Barthold], "Tadžiki," pp. 455–57). Hence the Turks of Central Asia adopted a variant of the Iranian word, täžik, to designate their Muslim adversaries in general. For example, the rulers of the south Indian Chalukya dynasty and Rashtrakuta dynasty also referred to
3844-725: The Six plus Two Group meetings at the United Nations Headquarters. In November and December 2001 the United Front gained control of much of the country and played a crucial role in establishing the post-Taliban interim government of Hamid Karzai in late 2001. After the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, the United Front succeeded in retaking Kabul from the Taliban with air support from US-led forces during Operation Enduring Freedom . Despite fears of
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3968-445: The Soviet Union and the exodus of Russians from Central Asia. Nevertheless, Russian fluency is still considered an vital skill for business and education. The dialects of modern Persian spoken throughout Greater Iran have a common origin. This is due to the fact that one of Greater Iran 's historical cultural capitals, called Greater Khorasan , which included parts of modern Central Asia and much of Afghanistan and constitutes as
4092-477: The U.S. State Department confirms that "20–40 percent of [regular] Taliban soldiers are returned Afghans from Pakistani refugee camps". Human Rights Watch wrote in 2000: Of all the foreign powers involved in efforts to sustain and manipulate the ongoing fighting [in Afghanistan], Pakistan is distinguished both by the sweep of its objectives and the scale of its efforts, which include soliciting funding for
4216-738: The United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( Dari : جبهه متحد اسلامی ملی برای نجات افغانستان Jabha-ye Muttahid-e Islāmī-ye Millī barāye Najāt-e Afğānistān ), was a military alliance of groups that operated between early 1992 and 2001 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union . At that time, many non-Pashtun Northerners originally with the Republic of Afghanistan led by Mohammad Najibullah became disaffected with Pashtun Khalqist Afghan Army officers holding control over non-Pashtun militias in
4340-589: The Women's Rights Declaration. At the same time he was very wary not to revive the failed Kabul government of the early 1990s. Already in 1999 the United Front leadership ordered the training of police forces specifically to keep order and protect the civilian population in case the United Front would be successful. In early 2001 Ahmad Shah Massoud addressed the European Parliament in Brussels asking
4464-608: The World Factbook , Tajiks make up about 25–27% of Afghanistan 's population, but according to other sources, they form 37–39% of the population. Other sources however, for example the Encyclopædia Britannica , state that they constitute about 12–20% of the population, which is mostly excluding Persianized ethnic groups like some Pashtuns , Uzbeks , Qizilbash , Aimaqs etc. who, especially in large urban areas like Kabul or Herat , assimilated into
4588-607: The Zoroastrian , and Buddhist pre-Islamic heritage of the Tajik people. Early temples for fire worship have been found in Balkh and Bactria and excavations in present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan show remnants of Zoroastrian fire temples. Today, however, the great majority of Tajiks follow Sunni Islam , although small Twelver and Ismaili Shia minorities also exist in scattered pockets. Areas with large numbers of Shias include Herat , Badakhshan provinces in Afghanistan,
4712-416: The international community to provide humanitarian help to the people of Afghanistan. He stated that the Taliban and Al Qaeda had introduced "a very wrong perception of Islam " and that without the support of Pakistan and Bin Laden the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year. On this visit to Europe he also warned that his intelligence had gathered information about
4836-613: The (ideally) nomadic military executive and the urban civil bureaucracy (Niẓām al-Molk: tāzik, pp. 146, 178–79; Fragner, "Tādjīk. 2" in EI2 10, p. 63). The word also occurs in the 8th-century Tonyukuk inscriptions as tözik , used for a local Arab tribe in the Tashkent area. These Arabs were said to be from the Taz tribe, which is still found in Yemen. In the 7th-century, the Taz began to Islamize
4960-535: The 1990s, Iran was the primary state sponsor of the Northern Alliance, along with India and Russia. By contrast, the Taliban were supported by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE . Because of Indian influence in the Alliance, Pakistan feared a Northern Alliance victory would result in Pakistan's encirclement by India on one side and an Indian-allied Northern Alliance on the other. During the 1990s, Turkey also supported
5084-464: The 19th century, Tajiki has been strongly influenced by the Russian language and has incorporated many Russian language loan words . It has also adopted fewer Arabic loan words than Iranian Persian while retaining vocabulary that has fallen out of use in the latter language. Many Tajiks can read, speak or write in Russian, however the prestige and importance of Russian has declined since the fall of
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5208-729: The Afghanistan Justice Project. Because of the chaos, some leaders increasingly had only nominal control over their (sub-)commanders. Human Rights Watch writes: 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. Meanwhile, southern Afghanistan
5332-822: The Arabs as "Tajika" in the 8th and 9th century. By the eleventh century ( Yusof Ḵāṣṣ-ḥājeb , Qutadḡu bilig , lines 280, 282, 3265), the Qarakhanid Turks applied this term more specifically to the Persian Muslims in the Oxus basin and Khorasan, who were variously the Turks' rivals, models, overlords (under the Samanid Dynasty ), and subjects (from Ghaznavid times on). Persian writers of the Ghaznavid, Seljuq and Atābak periods (ca. 1000–1260) adopted
5456-550: The Kazakhstan border. There are currently estimated to be over one million Tajik guest workers living in Russia, with their remittances accounting for as much as half of Tajikistan's economy. There are an estimated 220,000 Tajiks in Pakistan as of 2012, mainly refugees from Afghanistan. During the 1990s, as a result of the Tajikistan Civil War , between 700 and 1,200 Tajiks arrived in Pakistan, mainly as students,
5580-673: The NRF announced that a parallel government will be created in response to the Taliban's formation of its government in Kabul. It was announced on 29 September that Amrullah Saleh will lead the government in exile, according to a statement published by the Afghan Embassy in Geneva, Switzerland, which also backs the NRF. On 1 November, it was reported that the NRF has opened a liaison office in Washington DC after being registered with
5704-411: The NRF depends on arms they have stockpiled or acquired from corrupt Taliban personnel. Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov labeled the resistance as "doomed" and that the resistance would fail. Zhirnov further stated that Saleh's proclamation of caretaker president is unconstitutional and added that they have "no military prospects". Zhirnov also stated his plans to mediate talks between
5828-592: The NRF has 5,000 fighters. Following the Fall of Kabul , anti-Taliban forces, including former Vice President Saleh, moved into the Panjshir Valley, the only area of Afghanistan not controlled by the Taliban, in order to create a new resistance front. As of 17 August, the Panjshir Valley was—according to one observer—"under siege on all sides" but had not come under direct attack. Ahmad Massoud wrote in an op-ed to The Washington Post on 18 August 2021, calling for
5952-442: The North. Defectors such as Rashid Dostum and Abdul Momim allied with Ahmad Shah Massoud and Ali Mazari forming the Northern Alliance. The alliance's capture of Mazar-i-Sharif and more importantly the supplies kept there crippled the Afghan military and began the end of Najibullah's government. Following the collapse of Najibullah's government the Alliance would fall with a Second Civil War breaking out however following
6076-411: The Northern Alliance controlled less than 10% of the country, cornered in the north-east and based in Badakhshan province . The US invaded Afghanistan , providing support to Northern Alliance troops on the ground in a two-month war against the Taliban, which they won in December 2001. With the Taliban forced from control of the country, the Northern Alliance was dissolved as members and parties supported
6200-425: The Northern Alliance increased dramatically. Iran established an " airbridge " between Mashhad and the Afghan airbases of Bagram and Kulyab to ferry large quantities of arms to the Northern Alliance. For example, it was reported that on one day alone in 1997, 13 Iranian flights arrived at Bagram. In another instance, Iran was believed to have been found sending 700 tons of arms via Tajikistan. On August 1, 1997
6324-401: The Northern Alliance. Israel was initially not critical of the Taliban, as both governments opposed Iran, and the Mossad reached out to the Taliban. However, later, under pressure from United States and Turkey, Israel instead began reaching out to the Northern Alliance, even though it remained suspicious of the Alliance's pro-Iran position. Due to Indian backing of Karzai's administration and
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#17327721553906448-473: The Panjshir valley, with tanks and personnel carriers in support of the resistance. They regrouped in Andarab district , Baghlan after they escaped Kunduz , Badakhshan , Takhar , and Baghlan before moving to the safety of Panjshir. According to unconfirmed reports, Saleh's command managed to recapture Charikar , the provincial capital of Parwan Province , which had been held by the Taliban since 15 August, and that fighting had begun in Panjshir. At around
6572-400: The Panjshir-based fighters. On 20 August 2021, a group of anti-Taliban forces was organised in Baghlan Province , headed by Abdul Hamid Dadgar. The group took over the Andarab , Pul-e-Hesar and De Salah districts of Baghlan Province , killing or injuring 60 Taliban fighters as they did so. In the mid-afternoon, unconfirmed reports from Panjshir stated that Pul-e-Hesar was taken back from
6696-429: The Resistance and the Taliban. According to The Economist , the resistance's cause looked " forlorn ". The Independent mentions concerns that the fighters in Panjshir are likely to be outmatched as Taliban fighters have captured or acquired western-made military weapons and equipment with artillery and aircraft during the offensive. An anonymous Afghan journalist said that the group needs to start making plans for
6820-465: The Security Council stated it was "deeply distress[ed] over reports of involvement in the fighting, on the Taliban side, of thousands of non-Afghan nationals". In July 2001, several countries including the United States, accused Pakistan of being "in violation of U.N. sanctions because of its military aid to the Taliban". In 2000, British Intelligence reported that the ISI was taking an active role in several Al Qaeda training camps. The ISI helped with
6944-426: The Tajik community accounts for 5% of the nation's population. However, these numbers do not include ethnic Tajiks who, for a variety of reasons, choose to identify themselves as Uzbeks in population census forms. During the Soviet " Uzbekization " supervised by Sharof Rashidov , the head of the Uzbek Communist Party, Tajiks had to choose either stay in Uzbekistan and get registered as Uzbek in their passports or leave
7068-733: The Tajik sample was assigned to the North African maternal haplogroup X2j. The dominant paternal haplogroup among modern Tajiks is the Haplogroup R1a Y-DNA. ~45% of Tajik men share R1a (M17), ~18% J (M172), ~8% R2 (M124), and ~8% C (M130 & M48). Tajiks of Panjikent score 68% R1a, Tajiks of Khojant score 64% R1a. The high frequency of haplogroup R1a in the Tajiks probably reflects a strong founder effect . According to another genetic test, 63% of Tajik male samples from Tajikistan carry R1a. An autosomal DNA study by Guarino-Vignon et al. (2022), suggested that modern Tajiks show genetic continuity with ancient samples from Tajikistan and Turkmenistan . The genetic ancestry of Tajiks consists largely of
7192-408: The Tajik's ancestral homeland, played a key role in the development and propagation of Persian language and culture throughout much of Greater Iran after the Muslim conquest. Furthermore, early manuscripts of the historical Persian spoken in Mashhad during the development of Middle to New Persian show that their origins came from Sistan , in present-day Afghanistan. Various scholars have recorded
7316-601: The Tajiks are Fārsīwān (Persian-speaker), and Dīhgān (cf. Tajik : Деҳқон ) which translates to "farmer or settled villager", in a wider sense "settled" in contrast to "nomadic" and was later used to describe a class of land-owning magnates as " Persian of noble blood" in contrast to Arabs , Turks and Romans during the Sassanid and early Islamic period. The Tajiks have a mixed origin, and are primarily descended from Bactrians , Sogdians , Scythians , but also Persians , Greeks and various Turkic peoples of Central Asia, all of whom are known to have inhabited
7440-477: The Tajiks is predominantly Persianate but with strong elements from other cultures of Central Asia, such as Turkic and heavily infused with Islamic traditions. The Tajiks are an Iranian people, speaking a variety of Persian, concentrated in the Oxus Basin, the Farḡāna valley (Tajikistan and parts of Uzbekistan) and on both banks of the upper Oxus, i.e., the Pamir Mountains (Mountain Badaḵšān, in Tajikistan) and northeastern Afghanistan (Badaḵšān). Historically,
7564-455: The Taliban and recapture territory. Foreign Policy stated that there are generations of Afghans who had not previously experienced life under Taliban rule and were likely to resist. They stated that if the Taliban continued to target persons with links to the former government, then support for resistance would grow, but that support would drop if a future government included Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah . Kaweh Kerami warned that if
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#17327721553907688-513: The Taliban and their allies in 1998. Dostum subsequently went into exile. Ahmad Shah Massoud remained the only major anti-Taliban leader inside the country who was able to defend vast parts of his territory against the Pakistani Army, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, not once leaving Afghanistan except for diplomatic purposes. The Taliban repeatedly offered Massoud money and a position of power to make him stop his resistance. Massoud declined. He explained in one interview: The Taliban say: "Come and accept
7812-635: The Taliban launched an attack on Sheberghan, the main military base of Abdul Rashid Dostum. Dostum has said the reason the attack was successful was due to 1500 Pakistani commandos taking part and that the Pakistani air force also gave support. In October to November 1998, the Northern Alliance used Iranian and Russian arms to recapture territory from the Taliban near the Uzbekistan and Tajikistan border. In 1998, Iran accused Pakistan of sending its air force to bomb Mazar-i-Sharif in support of Taliban forces and directly accused Pakistani troops for "war crimes at Bamiyan ". The same year Russia said that Pakistan
7936-443: The Taliban to Afghanistan. Between 1996 and 2001, the Northern Alliance blocked the Taliban and al-Qaeda from gaining control of the entirety of Afghanistan. Many internally displaced persons found shelter in areas controlled by Ahmad Shah Massoud. After the September 2001 attacks in the United States, U.S. air raids followed by ground troops of the United Front ousted the Taliban from power in Kabul. Between November and December 2001,
8060-521: The Taliban were able to defeat the Panjshir fighters, then they would be able to roll back the gains made by the international community in developing Afghanistan. He also said that there would be resistance if the Taliban's ideas on an inclusive government meant the inclusion of a few "weak" politicians from previous government administrations. Northern Alliance Non-state opponents: The Northern Alliance ( Dari : ائتلاف شمال E'tilāf Šumāl or اتحاد شمال Ettehād Šumāl ), officially known as
8184-410: The Taliban, and that fighting was still raging in De Salah and Banu, with a reporter with Iran International reporting soon after that first Andarab and then De Salah fell to the resistance. According to Sediqullah Shuja, a former member of the Afghan National Security Forces , the reasons for the removal of the Taliban from the Andarab valley towns was the Taliban's searching of private houses, which
8308-420: The Taliban, bankrolling Taliban operations, providing diplomatic support as the Taliban's virtual emissaries abroad, arranging training for Taliban fighters, recruiting skilled and unskilled manpower to serve in Taliban armies, planning and directing offensives, providing and facilitating shipments of ammunition and fuel, and ... directly providing combat support. After Taliban captured Kabul, Iran's assistance to
8432-425: The Taliban. Many analysts like Amin Saikal describe the Taliban as developing into a proxy force for Pakistan's regional interests. On September 26, 1996, as the Taliban with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia, prepared for another major offensive against the capital Kabul, Massoud ordered a full retreat from the city. The Taliban seized Kabul on September 27, 1996, and established
8556-426: The Taliban. We are not afraid of Taliban fighters." On 16 September 2022, Ahmad Massoud urged fellow Afghans living overseas to work together to find a way to end Taliban rule and bring them back to negotiations. On 30 November – 1 December 2022, Karen Decker, charge d'affaires of the U.S. mission to Afghanistan, attended a meeting with anti-Taliban figures in Tajikistan. In 2023, former Afghan military officials opened
8680-463: The US Justice Department in order to carry out lobbying missions to various politicians working in the city. On 23 November, Sibghatullah Ahmadi was appointed as the new spokesman of the NRF. The position was previously held by Mohammad Fahim Dashty , who was killed during the Taliban offensive into Panjshir on 5 September. Ahmadi served in this capacity until his resignation in April 2023. On 1 September 2024, Ahmad Massoud claimed in an interview that
8804-512: The United Front gained control of most major Afghan cities. Had it not been for the United Front, the U.S. would have needed to deploy large number of ground troops, as was done in the Iraq War . Tajiks#Afghanistan Tajiks ( Persian : تاجيک، تاجک , romanized : Tājīk, Tājek ; Tajik : Тоҷик , romanized : Tojik ) are a Persian -speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia , living primarily in Afghanistan , Tajikistan , and Uzbekistan . Tajiks are
8928-521: The [Taliban] Ministry of Defense or to Mullah Omar himself". Al Qaeda's so-called 055 Brigade was also responsible for mass-killings of Afghan civilians. The report by the United Nations quotes eyewitnesses in many villages describing Arab fighters "carrying long knives used for slitting throats and skinning people". After longstanding battles especially for the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, Abdul Rashid Dostum and his Junbish-i Milli forces alongside allied Hezb-e Wahdat forces were defeated by
9052-556: The ancient Tajiks were chiefly agriculturalists before the Arab Conquest of Iran . While agriculture remained a stronghold, the Islamization of Iran also resulted in the rapid urbanization of historical Khorasan and Transoxiana that lasted until the devastating Mongolian invasion. Several surviving ancient urban centers of the Tajik people include Samarkand , Bukhara , Khujand , and Termez . Contemporary Tajiks are
9176-526: The assassination of Massoud]. I don't like the way things are lining up in Afghanistan. ... I sense a shift, and I think things are going to happen. ... soon. O'Neill died the following day, when the south tower collapsed. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, United Front troops ousted the Taliban from power in Kabul with American air support in Operation Enduring Freedom , using intelligence reports offered by Iran during
9300-437: The bottom of Afghan society including the Pashtun areas. In total, estimates range up to one million people fleeing the Taliban. Many civilians fled to the area of Ahmad Shah Massoud . National Geographic concluded in its documentary "Inside the Taliban" : "The only thing standing in the way of future Taliban massacres is Ahmad Shah Massoud ". In the areas under his control Massoud set up democratic institutions and signed
9424-410: The central government's control. In late 1994, most of the militia factions which had been fighting in the battle for control of Kabul were defeated militarily by forces of the Islamic State's Minister of Defense Ahmad Shah Massoud . Bombardment of the capital came to a halt. The Islamic State government took steps to restore law and order. Courts started to work again. Massoud tried to initiate
9548-452: The children of Tajik refugees in Afghanistan. In 2002, around 300 requested to return home and were repatriated back to Tajikistan with the help of the IOM , UNHCR and the two countries' authorities. 80,414 Tajiks live in the United States. A 2014 study of the maternal haplogroups of Tajiks from Tajikistan revealed substantial admixture of West Eurasian and East Eurasian lineages, and also
9672-561: The city of Mazar-i-Sharif under Dostum's control served as one of the Northern Alliance's headquarters, until the city was overrun in 1997. Under Massoud's control, Taloqan in Takhar Province , north of Panjshir, was the group's headquarters until September 5, 2000, when the city was taken by the Taliban and led to its base moving to Badakhshan Province . Massoud also maintained a private residence in Dushanbe , Tajikistan . It
9796-885: The construction of training camps for both the Taliban and Al Qaeda . From 1996 to 2001 the Al Qaeda of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri became a state within the Taliban state. Bin Laden sent Arab and Central Asian Al-Qaeda militants to join the fight against the United Front among them his Brigade 055 . With the fall of Kabul to anti-Taliban forces in November 2001, ISI forces worked with and helped Taliban militias who were in full retreat. In November 2001, Taliban, Al-Qaeda combatants and ISI operatives were safely evacuated from Kunduz on Pakistan Air Force cargo aircraft to Pakistan Air Force bases in Chitral and Gilgit in Pakistan's Northern Areas in what has been dubbed
9920-460: The cost of Afghanistan's political and economic development, including the progress made in areas such as education and women's rights. Because NATO excluded the Karzai administration and the opposition leaders were excluded from secret talks with the Taliban, Karzai's political rhetoric was increasingly adjusted to Taliban demands, United Front leaders, and in late 2011, regrouped to oppose a return of
10044-665: The descendants of ancient Eastern Iranian inhabitants of Central Asia, in particular, the Sogdians and the Bactrians . Possibly are descendants from other groups, with an admixture of Western Iranian Persians and non-Iranian peoples. The latter group may include Greeks who were known to have settled in the Tajikistan and Uzbekistan region following the conquests of Alexander the Great and some of them were referred to as Dayuan by Chinese chronicles. According to Richard Nelson Frye ,
10168-486: The direct control of Massoud but remained under their respective regional or ethnic leaders. Military commanders of the United Front were either independent or belonged to one of the following political parties: Military commanders and subcommanders of the United Front included: The two main political candidates in the 2009 Afghan presidential election both worked for the United Front: Initially,
10292-518: The early population associated with the Tarim mummies . The authors concluded that Tajiks "present patterns of genetic continuity of Central Asians since the Bronze Age". The language of the Tajiks is an eastern dialect of Persian , called Dari (derived from Darbārī , "[of/from the] royal courts", in the sense of "courtly language"), or also Parsi-e Darbari. In Tajikistan, where Cyrillic script
10416-661: The eastern and western Iranians is often considered historically and currently to be the desert Dasht-e Kavir , situated in the center of the Iranian plateau. During the Soviet–Afghan War , the Tajik-dominated Jamiat-e Islami founded by Burhanuddin Rabbani resisted the Soviet Army and the communist Afghan government . Tajik commander, Ahmad Shah Massoud , successfully repelled nine Soviet campaigns from taking Panjshir Valley and earned
10540-468: The eastern provinces of Lebap and Mary adjoining the borders with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. The population of Tajiks in Russia was about 350,236 according to the 2021 census, up from 38,000 in the last Soviet census of 1989. Most Tajiks came to Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union , often as guest workers in places like Moscow and Saint Petersburg or federal subjects near
10664-529: The evolution of the peoples whose remnants are the Tajiks in Central Asia" and that "the peoples of Central Asia, whether Iranian or Turkic speaking, have one culture, one religion, one set of social values and traditions with only language separating them." Regarding Tajiks, the Encyclopædia Britannica states: The Tajiks are the direct descendants of the Iranian peoples whose continuous presence in Central Asia and northern Afghanistan
10788-463: The genetic makeup of Southern Central Asian populations, such as the Tajiks. A follow-up study by Dai et al. (2022) estimated that the Tajiks derive between 11.6 and 18.6% ancestry from admixture with from an East-Eurasian steppe source represented by the Xiongnu , with the remainder of their ancestry being derived from Western Steppe Herders and BMAC components, as well as a small contribution from
10912-707: The government there has made a conscious effort to revive the legacy of the Samanid empire, the first Tajik-dominated state in the region after the Arab advance. For instance, the President of Tajikistan , Emomalii Rahmon , dropped the Russian suffix "-ov" from his surname and directed others to adopt Tajik names when registering births. According to a government announcement in October 2009, approximately 4,000 Tajik nationals have dropped "ov" and "ev" from their surnames since
11036-475: The largest ethnicity in Tajikistan, and the second-largest in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. More Tajiks live in Afghanistan than Tajikistan. They speak varieties of Persian, a Western Iranian language . In Tajikistan, since the 1939 Soviet census, its small Pamiri and Yaghnobi ethnic groups are included as Tajiks. In China, the term is used to refer to its Pamiri ethnic groups, the Tajiks of Xinjiang , who speak
11160-566: The leadership of commanders such as Abdul Haq and Haji Abdul Qadir . Notable politicians and diplomats of the United Front included Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai , Abdullah Abdullah and Masood Khalili . From the Taliban conquest of Kabul in September 1996 until November 2001 the United Front controlled roughly 30% of Afghanistan's population in provinces such as Badakhshan , Kapisa , Takhar and parts of Parwan , Kunar , Nuristan , Laghman , Samangan , Kunduz , Ghōr and Bamyan . Throughout
11284-540: The new Afghan Interim Administration , with some members later becoming part of the Karzai administration . Amidst the Fall of Kabul in 2021 , former Northern Alliance leaders and other anti-Taliban figures regrouped as the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan . The United Front was formed in late 1996 against the Taliban government by opposition factions. Since early 1999, Ahmad Shah Massoud
11408-457: The nickname "Lion of Panjshir" ( شیر پنجشیر ). According to John Perry ( Encyclopaedia Iranica ): The most plausible and generally accepted origin of the word is Middle Persian tāzīk 'Arab' (cf. New Persian tāzi), or an Iranian (Sogdian or Parthian) cognate word. The Muslim armies that invaded Transoxiana early in the eighth century, conquering the Sogdian principalities and clashing with
11532-452: The office of Afghanistan United Front in the United States and Sami Sadat , a former Afghan general, asked for U.S. help during a hearing with the U.S. House of Representatives. As of August 2024, the NRF is reported to have fighters present in Panjshir, Baghlan, Parwan, Kapisa, Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunar, Kunduz, Kabul, Laghman, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Samangan, Balkh, Badghis, Ghor, Herat, Farah, Nimroz, and Sar-i-Pul. According to Luke Coffey,
11656-426: The people now. They are weaker than in the past. There is only the assistance given by Pakistan, Osama bin Laden and other extremist groups that keep the Taliban on their feet. With a halt to that assistance, it is extremely difficult to survive. In early 2001 the United Front employed a new strategy of local military pressure and global political appeals. Resentment was increasingly gathering against Taliban rule from
11780-570: The population of Tajikistan. This number includes speakers of the Pamiri languages , including Wakhi and Shughni , and the Yaghnobi people who in the past were considered by the government of the Soviet Union nationalities separate from the Tajiks. In the 1926 and 1937 Soviet censuses, the Yaghnobis and Pamiri language speakers were counted as separate nationalities. After 1937, these groups were required to register as Tajiks. In Afghanistan,
11904-528: The population of the ancient cities of Bukhara and Samarkand , and are found in large numbers in the Surxondaryo Region in the south and along Uzbekistan's eastern border with Tajikistan. According to official statistics (2000), Surxondaryo Region accounts for 20.4% of all Tajiks in Uzbekistan, with another 34.3% in Samarqand and Bukhara regions. Official statistics in Uzbekistan state that
12028-404: The post of prime minister and be with us", and they would keep the highest office in the country, the presidentship. But for what price?! The difference between us concerns mainly our way of thinking about the very principles of the society and the state. We can not accept their conditions of compromise, or else we would have to give up the principles of modern democracy. We are fundamentally against
12152-460: The presence of South Asian and North African lineages, as well. Another study reports that "the Tajik mtDNA pool gene pool harbors nearly equal proportions of eastern Eurasian and western Eurasian haplotypes." West Eurasian maternal lineages included haplogroups H, J, K, T, I, W and U. East Eurasian lineages included haplogroups M, C, Z, D, G, A, Y and B. South Asian lineages detected in this study included haplogroups M and R. One lineage in
12276-405: The previous government or with NATO-led forces. David Loyn suggested that the resistance had a better chance of gaining more support from Afghans of other ethnic groups resisting the Taliban if Saleh were seen as the head of a broad coalition rather than only representing Tajiks. Loyn said that the rest of the world might have a reason not to recognize the Taliban if the fighters continued to face
12400-680: The region at various times. Tajiks are therefore mainly Eastern Iranian in their ethnic makeup but speak a Persian dialect, which is a Western Iranian language , likely adopting the language in the 7th century AD following the Islamic conquest of Persia , when the prestigious Persian language consequently spread further east leading to the gradual extinction of the Bactrian and Sogdian languages. The Tajiks and their ancestors have inhabited Northern Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and other parts of Central Asia continuously for many millennia. The culture of
12524-569: The region of Transoxiana in Central Asia. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam , however, the oldest known usage of the word Tajik as a reference to Persians in Persian literature can be found in the writings of the famous Persian poet and Islamic scholar Jalal ad-Din Rumi . The 15th-century Turkic-speaking poet Mīr Alī Šer Navā'ī who lived in the Timurid empire also used Tajik as
12648-760: The republic for Tajikistan, which is mountainous and less agricultural. It is only in the last population census (1989) that the nationality could be reported not according to the passport, but freely declared based on the respondent's ethnic self-identification. This had the effect of increasing the Tajik population in Uzbekistan from 3.9% in 1979 to 4.7% in 1989. Some scholars estimate that Tajiks may make up 35% of Uzbekistan's population, and believe that just like Afghanistan, there are more Tajiks in Uzbekistan than in Tajikistan. Chinese Tajiks or Mountain Tajiks in China ( Sarikoli : [tudʒik] , Tujik ; Chinese : 塔吉克族 ; pinyin : Tǎjíkè Zú ), including Sarikolis (majority) and Wakhis (minority) in China, are
12772-503: The respective local culture. Tajiks (or Farsiwans respectively) are predominant in four of the largest cities in Afghanistan ( Kabul , Mazar-e Sharif , Herat , and Ghazni ) and make up the qualified majority in the northern and western provinces of Badakhshan , Panjshir and Balkh , while making up significant portions of the population in Takhar , Kabul , Parwan , Kapisa , Baghlan , Badghis and Herat . Despite not being Tajik,
12896-484: The rest of the world to help them, as he admits that ammunition and supplies will run out unless Panjshir can be supplied. Massoud has stated his desire to negotiate with the Taliban. Ali Maisam Nazary , spokesman for the resistance, said that the Taliban were overstretched after they seized control of Kabul. On 17 August 2021, ethnic Tajik former soldiers of the Afghan National Army began to arrive in
13020-557: The same time, unconfirmed reports stated that remnants of the Afghan National Army had begun massing in the Panjshir Valley at the urging of Massoud, along with the Minister of Defense Bismillah Mohammadi and provincial commanders. Local civilians also responded to his calls to be mobilized. The Panjshir resistance also claimed to have the support of Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Muhammad Nur on 18 August 2021, while it
13144-610: The start of the year. In September 2009, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan proposed a draft law to have the nation's language referred to as "Tajiki-Farsi" rather than "Tajik." The proposal drew criticism from Russian media since the bill sought to remove the Russian language as Tajikistan's inter-ethnic lingua franca . In 1989, the original name of the language (Farsi) had been added to its official name in brackets, though Rahmon's government renamed
13268-493: The supply lines in the North, Najibullah replaced General Abdul Momim , an ethnic Tajik , with General Rasul, a Pashtun Khalqi known for being the brutal commander of Pul-e-Charkhi . Momim refused to step down, he and ethnic Uzbek , General Rashid Dostum defected and allied with Ahmad Shah Massoud and Ali Mazari forming the Northern Alliance. The alliance would take the city of Mazar-i Sharif on March 19, 1992 and launching
13392-404: The support of the Northern Alliance in the early days of the war. With both nations seeking to increase or maintain their regional power through opposing factions on the ground, observers came to view the conflict in Afghanistan as a proxy-war between the two state powers. From 2002 to 2004, war activity in Afghanistan was relatively calm. By 2006, however, with the support of Pakistan and Iran,
13516-488: The system called "the Emirate of Afghanistan". There should be an Afghanistan where every Afghan finds himself or herself happy. And I think that can only be assured by democracy based on consensus. Massoud wanted to convince the Taliban to join a political process leading towards democratic elections in a foreseeable future. He also stated: The Taliban are not a force to be considered invincible. They are distanced from
13640-420: The term and extended its use to cover Persians in the rest of Greater Iran , now under Turkish rule, as early as the poet ʿOnṣori, ca. 1025 (Dabirsiāqi, pp. 3377, 3408). Iranians soon accepted it as an ethnonym, as is shown by a Persian court official's referring to mā tāzikān "we Tajiks" (Bayhaqi, ed. Fayyāz, p. 594). The distinction between Turk and Tajik became stereotyped to express the symbiosis and rivalry of
13764-479: The total population), up from 42,600 in the 1999 census and 33,500 in the 1989 census. According to the last Soviet census in 1989, there were 3,149 Tajiks in Turkmenistan, or less than 0.1% of the total population of 3.5 million at that time. The first population census of independent Turkmenistan conducted in 1995 showed 3,103 Tajiks in a population of 4.4 million (0.07%), most of them (1,922) concentrated in
13888-434: The two militias soon escalated into a full-scale war. Due to the sudden initiation of the war, working government departments, police units or a system of justice and accountability for the newly created Islamic State of Afghanistan did not have time to form. Atrocities were committed by individuals of the different armed factions while Kabul descended into lawlessness and chaos as described in reports by Human Rights Watch and
14012-410: The westernmost Indo-Aryan Pashayi people of northeastern Afghanistan have deliberately been listed as Tajik by census takers and government agents. This is a result of the census takers being Tajik themselves, wanting to increase their own numbers for “consequent benefits”. Although, Pashayi-speaking Nizari Isma’ilis refer to themselves as Tajik. In Uzbekistan , the Tajiks are the largest part of
14136-647: Was a counter-terrorism expert and the Assistant Director of the FBI until late 2001. He retired from the FBI and was offered the position of director of security at the World Trade Center (WTC). He took the job at the WTC two weeks before 9/11. On September 10, 2001, John O'Neill told two of his friends, We're due. And we're due for something big. ... Some things have happened in Afghanistan [referring to
14260-442: Was a formidable base of operations for anti-Soviet fighters and later for the original Northern Alliance. It was the birthplace of anti-Soviet and Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud . Ahmad Shah Massoud's son, Ahmad Massoud , is widely seen as his successor. In July 2021, during the 2021 Taliban offensive , the remnants of the Northern Alliance began mobilizing under an umbrella called Resistance II . On 9 September,
14384-485: Was announced in October 2009. The mosque is planned to be built in Dushanbe and construction is said to be completed by 2014. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the Civil War in Afghanistan both gave rise to a resurgence in Tajik nationalism across the region, including a trial to revert to the Perso-Arabic script in Tajikistan. Furthermore, Tajikistan in particular has been a focal point for this movement, and
14508-682: Was backing the Shia Hazara Hezb-e Wahdat forces of Abdul Ali Mazari in order to "maximize Wahdat's military power and influence". Saudi Arabia supported the Wahhabite Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and his Ittehad-e Islami faction. A publication by the George Washington University describes: [O]utside forces saw instability in Afghanistan as an opportunity to press their own security and political agendas. Conflict between
14632-494: Was not a major threat. There was also a concern with Saleh and Massoud coming from different political backgrounds, with the latter not having the same level of charisma as his father, even though both oppose the Taliban. Kim Sengupta said that support for the resistance would depend on how unpopular the Taliban were and how far people would be willing to stand up against them despite the Taliban's insistence that they would not allow their fighters to persecute people who had worked with
14756-417: Was perceived as a violation of the agreement by which the Taliban had been allowed to take military control of the towns. Shuja stated that the Taliban entered houses "and harassed people. In our villages, people are very traditional and Muslim. There is no reason for Taliban to come and teach us about Islam." Former Baghlan prison commander Abdul Rahman stated that "All people of the valley have risen up against
14880-554: Was reported that members of Dostum's group, which had retreated into Uzbekistan , said that 10,000 of their soldiers could join forces with the Panjshir resistance, creating a combined force of 15,000 or more. On the same day, Afghan Embassy employees in Tajikistan have replaced photos of Ghani in the embassy building with those of Saleh. According to anonymous ex-American and British soldiers, some of whom were formerly Afghan-based contractors, numerous Afghans living/working abroad have been working together to raise money in order to assist
15004-524: Was responsible for the military expansion of the Taliban in northern Afghanistan by sending large numbers of Pakistani troops, some of whom had subsequently been taken as prisoners by the anti-Taliban United Front. In 2000, the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo against military support to the Taliban, with UN officials explicitly singling out Pakistan. The UN secretary-general implicitly criticized Pakistan for its military support and
15128-440: Was the only main leader able to defend his territory against the Taliban, and as such remained as the main de facto political and military leader of the United Front recognized by members of all the different ethnic groups. Massoud decided on the main political line and the general military strategy of the alliance. A part of the United Front military factions, such as Junbish-i Milli or Hezb-e Wahdat , however, did not fall under
15252-500: Was there where Massoud would meet international diplomatic staff who supported the Northern Alliance. During the early 1990s the Najibullah regime funded pro government militias all over the country in order to fight the mujahedeen insurgency however Najibullah, an ethnic Pashtun began to mistrust the mostly non-Pashtun militias in the north many of whom had ties to Ahmad Shah Massoud . In an effort to reassert his control over
15376-462: Was under the control of local leaders not affiliated with the central government in Kabul. 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. In November 1994 they took control of the southern city of Kandahar and subsequently expanded their control into several provinces in southern and central Afghanistan not under
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