Afghan mujahideen

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Mujahideen
مجاهدين
LeadersBurhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Massoud (Jamiat), Sibghatullah Mojaddedi (JNMA/AIG), Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (HIG), Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi (Harakat), Abdul Ali Mazari (Wahdat)
Dates of operation1975–1992 (resistance phase)
1992–1996 (loyalist factions)
MotivesCombat the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and overthrow the Soviet-backed communist government
Active regions
  • Afghanistan
  • Pakistan
IdeologyIslamism
Anti-communism
Anti-Sovietism
Allies Pakistan
 United States
 Saudi Arabia
 China
 West Germany[1][2]
 United Kingdom[2]
 Turkey[3]
 Egypt[4]
 France[2]
 Israel[5]
 Japan[5]
 Iran (Shia factions)
Opponents Soviet Union
 Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
Battles and wars1975 Panjshir Valley uprising
Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989)
First Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)
Gulf War (1991)
Organization(s)"Peshawar Seven" (Sunni branch)
Tehran Eight (Shia branch)
Flag
United States involvement in
regime change
20th century
21st century

The Afghan mujahideen (

Pashto: افغان مجاهدين) were Islamist resistance militias that fought the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent First Afghan Civil War
.

The term

guerrillas
as "freedom fighters", or "Mountain Men".

The militants of the Afghan mujahidin were recruited and organized immediately after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, initially from the regular Afghan population and defectors from the Afghan military, with the aim of waging an armed struggle against both the communist government of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which had taken power in the 1978 Saur Revolution, and the Soviet Union, which had invaded the country in support of the former. There were many ideologically different factions among the mujahidin, with the most influential being the Jamiat-e Islami and Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin parties. The Afghan mujahidin were generally divided into two distinct alliances: the larger and more significant Sunni Islamic union collectively referred to as the "Peshawar Seven", based in Pakistan, and the smaller Shia Islamic union collectively referred to as the "Tehran Eight", based in Iran; as well as independent units that referred to themselves as "mujahidin". The "Peshawar Seven" alliance received heavy assistance from the United States (Operation Cyclone), the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, as well as other countries and private international donors.

The basic units of the mujahidin continued to reflect the highly decentralized nature of Afghan society and strong loci of competing Pashtun tribal groups, which had formed a union with other Afghan groups under intense American, Saudi Arabian and Pakistani pressure.[7][8] The alliance sought to function as a united diplomatic front towards the international community, and sought representation in the United Nations and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.[9] The Afghan mujahidin also saw thousands of volunteers from various Muslim countries come to Afghanistan to aid the resistance. The majority of the international fighters came from the Arab world, and later became known as Afghan Arabs; the most well-known Arab financier and militant of the group during this period was Osama bin Laden, who would later found al-Qaeda and mastermind the September 11 attacks on the United States. Other international fighters from the Indian subcontinent became involved in terrorist activities in Kashmir and against the states of Bangladesh and Myanmar during the 1990s.[10][11] The mujahidin guerrillas fought a long and costly war against the Soviet military, which suffered heavy losses and withdrew from the country in 1989, after which the rebels' war against the communist Afghan government continued. The loosely-aligned mujahidin took the capital city of Kabul in 1992 following the collapse of the Moscow-backed government. However, the new mujahidin government that was formed by the Peshawar Accords following these events was quickly fractured by rival factions and became severely dysfunctional. This unrest quickly escalated into a second civil war, which saw the large-scale collapse of the united Afghan mujahidin and the victorious emergence of the Taliban, which established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan shortly after taking most of the country in 1996. The Taliban groups were then ousted in 2001 during the War in Afghanistan, but regrouped and retook the country in 2021.[12]

Origins and formation

Small groups of resistance formed in parts of eastern Afghanistan by the fall of 1978, but it was in early 1979 that the situation rapidly escalated to open rebellion. As early as February 2, 1979, it was reported that Afghan dissidents were receiving guerilla training across the border in Pakistan.

Islamic Republic. Other rebel movements were also active throughout the country, including Hazara tribes that had some 5,000 men as of August 1979.[16]

A broad mujahidin had existed as a de facto political bloc since May 1979, when the Pakistani government decided to limit the flow of financial aid to the said seven organizations, thus cutting off monetary supply to nationalist and left-wing resistance groups.[17]

The

Hizb-i Islami Gulbuddin) and later the three moderate groups seceded from it. These three set up the Union of the Three. The Islamic Union later called the tribal Revolutionary Council an "enemy".[15]

Because of disunity, elders from western Afghanistan attempted to hold a loya jirga, citing that

Mohammed Zahir Shah, would be an ideal "National Leader" in any coalition. However, Pakistan, which preferred a divided Afghan resistance, was against the return of the former king to Afghanistan, seeing it as a symbol of Afghan nationalism.[15]

Groups

There were seven major mujahidin groups as recognized by Pakistan and its allies, based in Peshawar and sometimes called the Peshawar Seven. They were often categorized into the fundamentalist and traditional; the fundamentalist factions were militarily stronger in the war.[18][19]

Political Islamist
Afghan traditionalist

Commanders

Amin Wardak, a mujahidin commander of Maidan Wardak Province

Some of the group leaders also acted as commanders, such as Khalis and Hekmatyar. The other notable mujahidin commanders were Ahmad Shah Massoud (Jamiat-i Islami), Abdul Haq (Hizb-i Islami Khalis), Ismail Khan (Jamiat-i Islami), Jalaluddin Haqqani (Hizb-i Islami Khalis), Amin Wardak (Mahaz-e Melli) and Mohammad Zabihullah (Jamiat-i Islami).[28]

Ideologies and divisions

Mujahidin guerillas in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, 1985

The Afghan mujahidin were not a united movement. The resistance parties remained deeply divided along ethnic, ideological and personal lines, despite internal and external pressures to unite. Dutch journalist Jere Van Dyk reported in 1981 that the guerillas were effectively fighting two civil wars: one against the regime and the Soviets, and another among themselves.

Hizb-i Islami was most cited as the initiator of cross-mujahidin clashes. Through the years, there were various efforts to create a united front, but all were either non-effective or failed in a short time. At least three different iterations of an "Islamic Unity of Afghan Mujahedin" (IUAM) were tried, none of which lasted. The formation of the Afghanistan Interim Government (AIG) in 1988 also failed to promote unity.[29] Additionally, it only included the select Sunni Muslim groups approved by Pakistan; Shi'ite groups backed by Iran and pro-Chinese (anti-Soviet) leftist groups were excluded.[15]

Mujahidin leader Mohammad Yunus Khalis thought that the lack of trust among the various leaders was a factor for the many disunited organizations.[15]

The only party fighting the Soviets was the Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami. The others were all fighting each other.

— Eduard Lagourge, French aid worker in Afghanistan, 1988[29]

The issue of the exiled king,

Mohammed Zahir Shah, also caused divisions. Zahir Shah enjoyed considerable popularity among the Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Both Hekmatyar and Khalis were strongly against the king, while Gailani, Mojaddedi and Mohammadi supported an interim coalition with him. Rabbani and Sayyaf were initially against a role for the king, later changing their minds.[29][18]

Although the Afghan mujahidin were praised for bravery in resisting a superpower, the lack of unity showed weaknesses in the guerillas, such as the lack of a clear political strategy.[29]

In an attempt to dissuade infighting and develop a de facto functioning

proto state, Ahmad Shah Massoud created the Shura-e Nazar
in 1984, an offshoot of the Jamiat faction. Shura-e Nazar was created as a military–political combination and consisted of an organized structure dealing with health and education in the areas it operated in (northern and north-eastern Afghanistan).

Attempts at unity

In 1981 the Islamist groups formed a broader alliance, the Union of the Seven, made up of the three Islamist groups, the newly formed organization led by Sayyaf, and three splinter groups. But many differences remained between them. In 1985, under pressure from the king of Saudi Arabia – which was a major donor to the mujahidin – a more broad coalition was created, named Islamic Unity of Afghan Mujahidin (IUAM), comprising the four main Islamist and three moderate groups. It was also nicknamed the Seven Party Mujahidin Alliance, the Peshawar Seven, and the Seven Dwarves.[30]

In 1989 under the patronage of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, An Afghan Interim Government (AIG) was formed in Pakistan to coincide with the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. The Interim Government had been in exile in Pakistan since 1988.

Mohammed Najibullah, but failed.[15]

Other resistance groups

Shi'ite groups

See also: Tehran Eight

A number of

Hezb-e Wahdat.[18]

Maoist groups

See also: Sino-Soviet split

There were also

Hezb-i Islami). The Babrak Karmal government arrested many of its members in June 1981.[18]

Smaller groups

Smaller mujahidin groups not connected to the main seven parties include the

Nimruz Front
.

The Settam-e-Melli was a small long-time splinter faction of the PDPA based in Badakhshan Province that fought against the regime and other Mujahidin. They were driven out of Panjshir Valley by Massoud's mujahidin forces in 1981. By 1983 its resistance seemed to have ceased as it appeared to join the Karmal government.[28]

The moderate

Afghan Social Democratic Party (Afghan Millat), formed in the 1960s, also resisted in the early days of the war. It was treated as a pariah by the recognized Peshawar-based mujahidin groups. Its guerilla band was heavily damaged in September 1980 following an attack by Hekmatyar's mujahidin forces. The regime in Kabul neutralized an Afghan Millat unit in the city in 1983.[28]

Equipment

See also:
List of military equipment used by mujahideen during Soviet–Afghan War
Various mujahidin weaponry seized by the Soviet army

Most of the Mujahidin's weapons were of Soviet design; this includes mostly those that were supplied by their funders and smaller numbers that were captured from the Soviet or Afghan militaries. It was disclosed in 1981 that recoilless rifles (Chinese 83mm, Blo, 70mm) were being used by the resistance. Also in use were Soviet 82 mm mortars, British mortars and Chinese Type 63 mortars. Twin barrelled Chinese-built Type 58s has been seen in smaller numbers. Lee–Enfield rifles, Egyptian made AKMs, and Chinese made SKSs have also been used by them.[36]

Beginning in 1985, they began to receive heavy equipment like bazookas and heavy machine guns, while also receiving better equipment for the cold winters, such as snow boots and ski tents. The raised fundings or assistance from the United States, China and Saudi Arabia all contributed to strengthening the Mujahidin movement by 1987.[15]

The portable surface-to-air "Stinger" missile was first used by Mujahedin in September 1986 and is considered by some to have been a turning point in the war.[37] Some military analysts considered it a "game changer" coined the term "Stinger effect" to describe it.[38] However, these statistics are based on Mujahedin self-reporting, which is of unknown reliability. A Russian general however claimed the United States "greatly exaggerated" Soviet and Afghan aircraft losses during the war.[39]

Allies and funding

Wounded Afghan guerillas having arrived at Norton Air Force Base, the United States, for medical treatment, 1986

The mujahidin were heavily backed by

Second World War.[40] The CIA's Operation Cyclone was said to be its "largest and 'most successful' covert operation ever."[41] Pakistan controlled which rebels received assistance: the four "fundamentalist" factions received most of the funding.[42] A large amount of funding also came from private donors and charities from the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.[43]

Areas of activity

The areas where the different mujahidin forces operated as of 1985

By May 1980, mujahidin controlled virtually all of rural Afghanistan, and these regions were cleared of Khalqists and Parchamites. With the exception of parts of the north near the Soviet border (under Abdul Rashid Dostum's command), along with several cities, mujahidin guerillas were in control of most of the country as of 1987.[15][44]

As of 1985, the Jamiat-i Islami held some of the most territory, stretching from

Paktia, while Hizb-i Islami Gulbuddin held many pockets of territory throughout the country. The Mahaz-i-Milli was prominent in Loya Paktia
but also had territory in other parts of the country.

As Soviet forces withdrew in 1988–89, the Mujahidin captured several key districts, towns and provincial capitals, such as

Maidan Shahr
also fell to the Mujahidin in the summer of 1988, but were retaken by the government with Soviet bombardment and logistical support.

By the time Soviet forces completed their withdrawal, the Afghan government held only sixty urban centers and the Mujahidin controlled six entire provinces. However, the Mujahidin were unable to seize the country's major cities for several years, due to the lack of coordination between the various groups and the lack of heavy firepower necessary for such actions. The Afghan Army beat back the Mujahidin's attempts to take the city of Jalalabad in March 1989, and the civil war settled into a stalemate for three years.[45]

Role of women

Women also played a part in the Afghan mujahidin, often traveling with them to cook food or wash their clothes, but also taking part in weapons smuggling. There were many female sympathizers who encouraged their husbands, sons or other male family members to take part in the war against the invaders. However, women in Afghanistan were split between the two sides, with many also supporting the Democratic Republic where they enjoyed social privileges.[46] Female refugees also created and recited Landays (traditional Afghan poems) about the war.[47]

There is one recorded female mujahidin warlord, Bibi Ayesha (nicknamed Kaftar, meaning "dove"), who operated in Baghlan Province.[48][49]

Soviet withdrawal and civil war

See also: Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Afghan Civil War (1989–1992), and Gulf War

On 14 April 1988, the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan signed the Geneva Accords, guaranteed by the United States and Soviet Union. This committed the Soviet Union to withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by 15 February 1989. The withdrawal was conducted in two phases. The first half of the contingent was removed between 15 May and 16 August 1988, and the second half after 15 November 1988. As the Soviets withdrew, they left the Afghan army in fortified positions and even helped them conduct counteroffensives, in order to leave them in as strong a position as possible.[50] The withdrawal was completed on schedule, with commander Boris Gromov of the 40th Army being the last Soviet soldier to leave Afghanistan. After the Soviet withdrawal, most of the Afghan mujahidin continued its fight against the government of Mohammad Najibullah, which continued to receive funding from Moscow, while similarly the Mujahidin was also still receiving funding from Washington and Islamabad.

Despite initial estimates, the Mujahidin proved unable to topple Najibullah's regime immediately after the Soviet withdrawal. The government concentrated its forces in defense of key cities, while relying on vast amounts of military and humanitarian aid from the Soviet Union to stay afloat. Soviet military advisors were still present in Afghanistan, helping advise the war effort and even coordinate air strikes.

Scud missiles which gave the government an advantage in firepower. The Afghan Air Force, supplied and maintained with Soviet support, proved to be a crucial asset in keeping the government in power.[51] As late as December 1991, Soviet pilots were recorded flying bombing missions against the Mujahidin.[52]

The Mujahidin's divisions and factionalism hindered their war effort, and skirmishes between rival groups became common. Massoud was one of the most active elements in this time. In both 1990 and 1991 he staged spring offensives, capturing several cities and steadily expanding the territory under his influence.[45] The government meanwhile came to rely heavily on tribal militias to stay in power, primarily the Jowzjani militia of Abdul Rashid Dostum. After 1989, these were the only forces capable of offensives against the Mujahidin.[50]

By the summer of 1990, the Afghan government forces were on the defensive again, and by the beginning of 1991 the government controlled only 10 percent of Afghanistan. In March 1991, Mujahidin forces captured the city of Khost ending an eleven-year siege. After the failed coup d'état attempt by hardliners in the Soviet Union in August 1991, Soviet support to Najibullah's government dried up. This effectively doomed it, as the Afghan Air Force could no longer fly due to fuel shortages. Consequently, the Army's desertion rate skyrocketed.[50] In March 1992, Dostum's militiamen defected to Massoud after negotiations, and Najibullah's regime fell shortly afterwards.

In 1991, some factions of the Mujahidin were deployed in Kuwait to fight Iraq.[53] After Hekmatyar and Sayyaf publicly denounced the U.S. and the Saudi royal family for their role in the Gulf War, U.S. and Saudi officials indicated that they would stop funding both commanders, but this did not happen. However, the CIA and Saudi intelligence pressured the ISI to send captured Iraqi tanks to Haqqani instead of Hekmatyar.[54] In 1993, it was reported that some Mujahidin were deployed in the Caucusus to fight the forces of Armenia in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.[55] Afghan mujahidin fighters have also been reportedly involved in the civil war in Tajikistan during 1992–1993.[56]

After the War

See also: Peshawar Accord and Islamic State of Afghanistan
Progress of the continuing civil war, 1992–2001

After Najibullah's government collapsed, the Mujahidin factions (apart from Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin) signed a power sharing agreement (the

Hezb-i Wahdat
continued to exist as militias rather than merely political parties, with many fighters being loyal to specific leaders.

Relationship with the Taliban

The Taliban is a puritanical movement that was formed in 1994, five years after the end of the Soviet–Afghan War and in the midst of anarchy in Afghanistan. Supported by Pakistan and recruited from religious students from madrasas across the border, it won a highly effective military campaign against former Mujahidin factions in the civil war, gaining control and establishing the Islamic Emirate in 1996. Nearly all of the Taliban's original leadership fought in the Soviet–Afghan War for either the Hezb-i Islami Khalis or Harakat-i Inqilab-e Islami factions of the Mujahidin.[18]

Veteran mujahidin leaders who fought against the Soviets were divided regarding the Taliban. Yunus Khalis was a strong supporter of the Taliban[57] and Nabi Mohammadi also supported them, even dissolving his own organization in doing so. However, Rabbani and Sayyaf were against the Taliban and formed a new united opposition force called the Northern Alliance, which also recruited Abdul Qadeer (a commander who defected from Khalis's faction), prominent Shi'ite leaders such as Muhammad Mohaqiq, and former DRA commander Abdul Rashid Dostum. This group was supported following the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 that successfully drove out the Taliban and led to the rise of Hamid Karzai.[18]

See also

References

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  10. ^ Layekuzzaman (2 September 2021). "WILL THE ERA OF AFGHAN MUJAHIDEEN RETURN TO BANGLADESH AGAIN?". The Daily Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
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  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Afghanistan". publishing.cdlib.org.
  16. ^ "Intensification of Warfare between Government Forces and Moslem Rebels - Government Changes - Alleged Involvement of Foreign Powers" (PDF). stanford.edu. 12 October 1979. p. 29878. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
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  20. ^ (Pashto/Dari: جمعیت اسلامی)
  21. ^ (Pashto/Dari: حزب اسلامی گلبدین)
  22. ^ (Pashto/Dari: حزب اسلامی خالص)
  23. ^ (Pashto/Dari: اتحاد اسلامی برای آزادی افغانستان)
  24. ISBN 9781594200076
    . The CIA's Islamabad station estimated in a 1989 cable to Langley that there were probably about four thousand Arab volunteers in Afghanistan, mainly organized under Sayyaf's leadership. He was in turn heavily supported by Saudi intelligence and Gulf charities.
  25. ^ (Pashto/Dari: حرکت انقلاب اسلامی افغانستان)
  26. ^ (Pashto/Dari: جبه نجات ملی)
  27. ^ (Pashto/Dari: حمحاذ ملی اسلامی افغانستان)
  28. ^
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  29. ^ a b c d Ahmad Noor (December 2007). The causes of the failure of the government of Afghanistan under Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Peshawar.
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  33. ^ Nasir, Abbas (18 August 2015). "The legacy of Pakistan's loved and loathed Hamid Gul". Al-Jazeera. Retrieved 4 January 2017. 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 wanted to establish a government of the so-called Mujahideen on Afghan soil. He then ordered an assault using non-state actors 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. This was the spring of 1989 and a furious prime minister, Benazir Bhutto – who was kept in the dark by ... Gul and ... Mirza Aslam Beg – demanded that Gul be removed from the ISI.
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  38. ^ Schroeder, Matthew. ""Stop Panicking About the Stingers," by Matthew Schroeder, Foreign Policy, July 28, 2010". foreignpolicy.com. Archived from the original on 31 July 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
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  48. ^ "A woman's war: The rise and fall of Afghanistan's female warlord". america.aljazeera.com.
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  51. ^ "The Lessons Of Jalalabad; Afghan Guerrillas See Weaknesses Exposed". The New York Times. 13 April 1989. Casualties have been high on both sides. Government troops have been reduced by heavy guerrilla shelling and rocketing from 12,000 to 9,000, Western diplomats say....The Afghan Air Force is said to be taking advantage of the fact that, probably for the first time in the war, guerrilla forces are concentrated in static positions, which make them easier bombing targets.
  52. ^ "In Afghanistan, Peace Must Wait". The New York Times. 29 December 1991. Later, at Jalalabad, we will eavesdrop on the shortwave radio and hear Soviet pilots making actual bombing runs on resistance positions.
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  54. ISBN 9781594200076
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Bibliography

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