SUMMARY
UIFSA (United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan) was a rebel group that fought the government of Afghanistan throughout the mid- and late 1990s and the first year of the 2000s. This opposition movement was formed by the armed forces opposing the government that was formed by the Taleban movement when it seized power in Kabul in September 1996.
The group was formed in October 1996, then under the name of SCDA (Supreme Council for the Defence of Afghanistan), and was composed of approximately 13 different rebel groups that opposed the Taleban ascent to power. On 3 June 1997 the group changed its name to UIFSA, but has since also been known as the Northern Alliance due to its roots in the Hazara, Uzbek and Tadjik ethnic groups. These groups are mainly found in Afghanistan’s northern and central provinces, as opposed to the Pashto-dominated south.
The three rebel groups that dominated UIFSA were the Jamiaat-i-Islami, the Hezb-i-Wahdat and the Jumbish-i-Milli-ye-Islami. The Jamiaat-i-Islami was a predominately Tajik rebel movement led by Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Hezb-i-Wahdat was a Hazara group under the lead of Kharim Khalili and the Jumbish-i-Milli-ye-Islami was predominately Uzbek and led by Rashid Dostum. Overall, the creation of UIFSA brought together the largest non-Pashtun rebel groups (and to some extent populations) of Afghanistan to face the Pashto-dominated Taleban government. It is important, however, to note that Pashto-dominated rebel groups also participated in UIFSA, although to a lesser extent.
UIFSA had its main strongholds in the northern and north-eastern parts of Afghanistan, and declared Mazar-i-Sharif (in Balkh province) as its capital soon after the group’s formation. In addition to having a much smaller Pashto population than the southern provinces the Northern provinces were more liberal in their interpretations of Islamic law, furthering the divides between the Taleban government and the alliance. Being entrenched in the north UIFSA drew much support from countries that neighboured this region and opposed the radical rule of the Taleban. Arms and logistics thus flowed in from Russia and Iran, in the Russian case mainly through Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The existence within the alliance of the Shiite Hazaras, who were harshly targeted by Taleban attacks, was also a factor that led to Iranian support. Secondary support also came from India and the USA.
By the end of the year 2000 UIFSA had suffered devastating military defeats as the hands of the government, having been pushed back into small pockets of territory in Afghanistan’s north-eastern corner. A change in fortune however came in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the USA, when the USA turned its military might against the government for harbouring al-Qaida militants. The USA, leading a multinational military coalition, aligned itself with UIFSA and ousted the Taleban administration from Kabul in November 2001. The last Taleban stronghold in Kandahar fell in December, signalling a military victory for UIFSA and its international supporters. After these events UIFSA more or less fractionalised, with some of its constituent elements entering into the internationally sponsored talks on creating a new transitional government to rule Afghanistan whilst others returned to the battlefield.
UIFSA never had an organised unitary leadership and instead acted as a political front for numerous independent parties opposed to the Taleban government. Several groups entered and left the movement throughout its existence from 1996 to 2001, but the major actors mentioned above took part in the alliance during the duration of its existence. Each of the warlords in the alliance commanded his own troops and were bound together only by vague political objectives and the combined aim of ousting the Taleban government. Much infighting between the constituent parts thus took place whilst the alliance fought the government.
UIFSA has been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
