History of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

On April 18, 1992 the forces of Ahmed Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid Dostam captured Kabul. On June 28, 1992, Burhanuddin Rabbani took control, while fighting between rival groups continued. On December 30, 1992 the National Council was formed in Kabul and Rabbani was elected President and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was declared.

Other more radical Islamic groups boycotted the meeting however and began to shell the city and factional fighting continued.

In 1994 the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban movement emerged as major challengers to the Rabbani government. In 1996 they took control of the capital and declared the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan[?] (although there was no Emir) and for several years afterward gradually increased their control of the country and forced the Northern Alliance into the mountains in the north of the country.

In 1998 thousands of people were killed by earthquakes. The United States launched cruise missile attacks at suspected bases of Osama Bin Laden, after he was accused of bombing US embassies in Africa. In 1999 and again in January 2001 sanctions were imposed by the UN. In March 2001 the Taliban destroyed giant statues of the Buddha, provoking international outrage. In addition to the continuing civil strife, the country suffered from widespread poverty, drought, a devastated infrastructure, and ubiquitous use of landmines. These conditions led to about three to four million Afghans suffering from starvation.

By September 2001 the remaining opposition to the Taliban had been confined to the Panjshir valley[?] and a small region in the northeast. The opposition by this time had formed the Northern Alliance but controlled less than 5% of the country. It was dealt a further blow by the assassination of the highly regarded military commander Ahmed Shah Massoud in early September. During much of September it seemed inevitable that the Taliban would soon gain complete control.

After the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack the long-running dispute with the United States over the presence of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan came to the forefront when the US accused him of organising the attack. The US demanded that he be handed over to "responsible authorities". The Taliban claimed he was innocent and offered to send him to a Islamic country for trial. On October 7, 2001 United States-led forces launched a military campaign on Afghanistan. A period of bombing followed, which for about a month appeared to be having little effect. The US required the assistance of countries around Afghanistan to provide a route for the attack, but criticism increased as various mosques, aid agencies, hospitals etc., were damaged by US bombs. However the Northern Alliance was revitalised and assisted by US bombing captured Mazar-e Sharif on November 9. It rapidly gained control of most of northern Afghanistan and took control of Kabul on November 12 after the Taliban fled the city. The Taliban were restricted to a smaller and smaller region, with Kunduz, the last Taliban-held city in the north, captured on November 26.

The Northern Alliance and US were accused of mistreatment of prisoners, ignoring the Geneva conventions. The Northern Alliance were reportedly particularly hostile to the non-Afghan supporters of the Taliban. It was suggested that the US preferred to see as many as possible of the Taliban and al-Qaeda dead in preference to taking prisoners and attempting to prove alleged crimes in a court. On 25-27 November an uprising by prisoners at the fort of Qalai Janghi, near Mazar-e Sharif, was put down by the Northern Alliance with General Abdul Rashid Dostum in command. The US bombed the fort and up to 400 were killed, with about 80 survivors found a few days later. Amnesty International called for an inquiry into the battle.

The war continued in the south of the country, where the Taliban remained in control of Kandahar.

Representatives of the Northern Alliance, the former monarch Mohammed Zahir Shah and two other Afghan exile groups attended a conference held at Bonn, organised by the UN and starting on November 27. Donor countries insisted on an agreement as a condition for supplying reconstruction aid. An accord was signed on December 5, establishing a 30-member interim administration to rule for six months. A supreme court was to be set up and a loya jirga (a traditional assembly of tribes) would elect a transitional government, which would establish a constitution and organise elections about two years later. A multi-national peacekeeping force would secure Kabul. The Northern Alliance obtained the ministries of interior, defence and foreign affairs. It was agreed that the council should be headed by a Pashtun. Hamid Karzai got the job, to take office on December 22. At the time he was leading forces besieging Kandahar and a few days later he was narrowly missed by a US bomb.

On December 5 anti-Taliban forces began to attack the Tora Bora cave complexes where bin Laden was suspected to be located. After tough resistance the caves were quickly taken and the remaining Taliban forces were driven into the mountains on the border with Pakistan, but there was no sign of Bin Laden.

Kandahar was captured from the Taliban on December 7, although the Taliban leader Mullah Omar escaped. US forces remained in the country hunting the dispersed Taliban and al-Qaeda forces, e.g., in Operation Anaconda.