The Battle of Kabul was a series of intermittent battles and sieges over the city of Kabul during the period of 1992–1996.
Throughout the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979 to 1989, and subsequent civil war (1989–1992) the city of Kabul saw little fighting. The collapse of Mohammad Najibullah's regime in April 1992 led to a peace treaty between the Afghan political parties and the establishment of the Islamic State of Afghanistan. But soon after, the undisciplined commanders from both former mujahideen and Communist ranks started to vie for power, abetted by foreign powers, namely Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Uzbekistan, who began arming their Afghan proxies to fight for control and influence.
Political background
With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Soviet-supported Pashtun government of Najibullah would lose credibility amongst Afghanistan's non-Pashtun population following the replacement of Tajik generals in the North with Pashtun ones leading to General Abdul Rashid Dostum and the newly found Anti Pashtun alliance of Northern militias called the Movement of the North would ally Ahmed Shah Massoud and Abdul Ali Mazari, and began to take control of Mazar Sharif from the Pashtun defenders. The capture of Mazar and the large quantities of weapons there crippled Najibullah's government and by April 14, 1992, Massoud and his forces took control of Charikar and Jabalussaraj in Parwan Province with many Tajik Parchamites defecting while Pashtun Khalqists and Najibullah loyalists put up resistance. At this point, it was reported that Massoud had approximately 20,000 troops stationed around Kabul. By mid-April, the air force command at Bagram capitulated to Massoud. With no army to defend it, Kabul had become completely helpless.
As soon as he announced his willingness, on March 18, to resign in order to make way for a neutral interim government, Najibullah immediately lost control. As the government broke into several factions, the issue was how to carry out a transfer of power to a new government. Najibullah resigned on April 14 and attempted to leave Kabul on April 17, but was stopped by Dostum's troops, who controlled Kabul International Airport. Najibullah then took refuge at the United Nations mission where he remained until 1996. A group of Parchami generals and officials, led by acting President Abdul Rahim Hatif, declared themselves an interim government for the purpose of handing over power to Tajik warlord Ahmad Shah Massoud. However many Pashtun Khalqists and Najibullah loyalists opposed this and would enter an alliance with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami.
Massoud hesitated to enter Kabul, waiting for the political parties to reach a peace and power-sharing agreement first. In April 1992, the Peshawar Accord was signed. It established the Islamic State of Afghanistan and stipulated that an interim government would be formed with a supreme leadership council. A transitory presidency was given to Sibghatullah Mojaddedi for two months, after which Burhanuddin Rabbani was to succeed him. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was given the post of prime minister, but he did not accept this position as he did not want to share power and Pakistan was urging him to take power for himself. Massoud, in a recorded conversation, tried to convince Hekmatyar to join the peace agreement and not to enter Kabul. But Hekmatyar replied he would enter the capital with "our naked sword. No-one can stop us". Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami forces with assistance of their new communist allies began to infiltrate Kabul. This forced Massoud to advance on the capital in order to preserve the Peshawar Accord and prevent the establishment of a Hekmatyar dictatorship.
Eleven armed groups in total entered Kabul and its vicinities, which included the seven Sunni Afghan mujahideen; the Shi'ite Islamic Movement of Asif Mohseni and Hezbe Wahdat of Abdul Ali Mazari; and the Junbish-i Milli of ex-communist Abdul Rashid Dostum. The different groups entered the city in different directions. Hezb-i Islami made the first move and entered the city from the south. With soldiers armed and financed by Pakistan, Hekmatyar had asked other groups such as Harakat-Inqilab-i-Islami and the Khalis faction to join him while entering Kabul, but they declined his offer and instead backed the Peshawar Accord. Jamiat-i Islami had seized massive amount of weapons while overrunning the mostly Pashtun Communist garrisons in Bagram, Charikar, Takhar, Kunduz, Fayzabad and other northern cities. Adding to that, all the forces of Junbish-i Milli had aligned themselves to the Jamiat, and the former Communist government of Afghanistan had decided to surrender all its weapons to Jamiat, instead of Hezb. All the Parchamis had fled abroad through the Jamiat-controlled areas. Jamiat had seized massive stockpiles of heavy weapons such as T-62 and T-55 tanks, Scud missiles and MiG-21s.
Hekmatyar's Hezb forces were very far from key points of the city such as the presidential palace, the prime minister's office, Kabul International Airport, the ministry of defense and many other important government offices. Much of the city lies on the North Bank of the Kabul River. Burhanuddin Rabbani's Jamiat forces quickly took control of these strategically important offices. Although Hezb forces got to the gates of the ministry of justice and took control of the ministry of the interior, they were quickly repulsed after bombing from the Afghan Air Force, which was supported by artillery shells fired from a TV tower onto Jade Maiwand. Hundreds of Hezb fighters were killed or taken prisoners, including some foreign fighters.
In the western sector of the city, the Hezb forces crossed the Kabul River and arrived at the northern bank after taking control of the Karte Seh area. While charging towards the Kote Sangi and Kabul University, Sayyaf's forces attacked Hezb forces from the Ghazi School area in a surprise move, and the Hezb forces were separated into two groups after being cut off by Jamiat troops. Throughout the night, the exhausted and demoralized forces of Hezbi Islami fought. After suffering heavy casualties, Hezb forces on the southern bank deserted their positions, fleeing out of Kabul towards Logar.
Kabul came completely under Islamic State control on April 30, 1992, but the situation was far from stabilised. The Hezb-i Islami had been driven out, but they were still within artillery range, and soon started firing tens of thousands of Pakistan-supplied rockets into the city.
When Hekmatyar's forces had overrun Pul-e-Charkhi prison, while still in the centre of Kabul, they had set free all the inmates, including many criminals who were able to take arms and commit gruesome actions against the population. With the government institutions either collapsing or participating in the factional fighting, maintaining order in Kabul became almost impossible. The scene was set for the next phase of the war.
Timeline
1992
April–May
The immediate objective of the interim government was to defeat the forces acting against the peace agreement (the Peshawar Accord), particularly Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami (backed by Pakistan) but later to include Mazari's Wahdat (backed by Iran) and Dostum's Junbish (backed by Uzbekistan).
The forces of Jamiat and Shura-e Nazar entered the city, with agreement from Nabi Azimi and the commander of the Kabul garrison, General Abdul Wahid Baba Jan, that they would enter the city through Bagram, Panjshir, Salang and Kabul Airport. Many government forces, including generals, joined Jamiat, including the troops of General Baba Jan, who was at the time in charge of the garrison of Kabul. On April 27, all major parties had entered the city.
Meanwhile, in Western Kabul, an area that would later see some of the fiercest fighting and greatest massacres of the war, Sayyaf's mostly Pashtun forces began to enter the city from Paghman and Maidan Shar.
As mentioned above, Kabul came completely under the control of the interim government on April 30, 1992, and hopes were rising for a new era. But the situation was far from stabilized. The Hezb-i Islami had been driven out, but they were still within artillery range, and soon started firing tens of thousands of rockets into the city. Fighting between Hezb-i Islami and Junbish occurred in the Shashdarak area of Kabul. On May 5–6, 1992, Hizb-i Islami subjected Kabul to a heavy artillery bombardment, killing and injuring an unknown number of civilians. On May 23, 1992, despite a cease-fire, the forces of Junbish-i Milli bombarded Hizb-i Islami positions in Bini Hissar, Kalacha and Kart-iNau.
Peace talks on May 25, 1992, originally agreed to give Hekmatyar the position of prime minister. However, this lasted less than a week after Hekmatyar had attempted to shoot down the plane of President Sibghatullah Mojaddedi. Furthermore, as part of the peace talks, Hekmatyar was demanding the departure of Dostum's forces, which would have tilted the scales.
On May 30, 1992, during fighting between the forces of Junbish-i Milli and Hizb-i Islami in the southeast of Kabul, both sides used artillery and rockets killing and injuring an unknown number of civilians. Shura-e Nazar forces were said to have been around the customs post on Jalalabad Road under the command of Gul Haidar and Baba Jalandar, who also were active in the areas such as the military university.
June–July
In June 1992, as scheduled, Burhanuddin Rabbani became President of Afghanistan.
From the onset of the battle, Jamiat and Shura-e Nazar controlled the strategic high areas, and were thus able to develop a vantage point within the city from which opposition forces could be targeted. Hekmatyar continued to bombard Kabul with rockets. Although Hekmatyar insisted that only Islamic Jihad Council areas were targeted, the rockets mostly fell over the houses of innocent civilians of Kabul, a fact which has been well-documented. Artillery exchanges quickly broke out, escalating in late May-early June. Shura-i Nazar was able to immediately benefit from heavy weapons left by fleeing or defecting government forces and launched rockets on Hekmatyar's positions near the Jalalabad Customs Post, and in the districts around Hood Khil, Qala-e Zaman Khan and near Pul-i Charkhi prison. On June 10, it was reported that Dostum's forces had also begun nightly bombardments of Hezb-i Islami positions.
Particularly noticeable in this period was the escalation of the fight in West Kabul between the Shi'a Wahdat forces supported by Iran and those of the Wahhabist Ittihad militia supported by Saudi Arabia. Wahdat was somewhat nervous about the presence of Ittihad posts which were deployed in Hazara areas such as Rahman Baba High school. According to reports by Nabi Azimi, who at the time was a high ranking governor, the fighting began on May 31, 1992, when four members of Hezb-e Wahdat's leadership were assassinated near the Kabul Silo. Those killed were Karimi, Sayyid Isma'il Hosseini, Chaman Ali Abuzar and Vaseegh, the first three being members of the party's central committee. Following this, the car of Haji Shir Alam, a top Ittihad commander, was stopped near Pol-e Sorkh, and although Alem escaped, one of the passengers was killed. On June 3, 1992, heavy fighting between forces of Ittihad-i Islami and Hizb-I Wahdat in West Kabul broke out. Both sides used rockets, killing and injuring civilians. On June 4, interviews with Hazara households stated that Ittihad forces looted their houses in Kohte-e Sangi, killing six civilians. The gun battles at this time had a death toll of over 100 according to some sources. On June 5, 1992, further conflicts between forces of Ittihad and Hizb-i Wahdat in West Kabul were reported. Here, both sides used heavy artillery, destroying houses and other civilian structures. Three schools were reportedly destroyed by bombardment, and an unknown number of civilians were injured or killed. Gunmen were reported killing people in shops near the Kabul Zoo. On June 24, 1992, the Jamhuriat hospital located near the interior ministry was bombed and closed. Jamiat and Shura-e Nazar forces sometimes joined the conflict when their positions came under attack by Wahdat forces and in June and July bombarded Hizb-i Wahdat positions in return. Harakat forces also sometimes joined the fight.
August–December