SUMMARY

The non-state conflict between the Forces of Amanullah Khan and the Forces of Arbab Basir broke out in October 2006, when Arbab Basir’s fighters ambushed a convoy carrying Amanullah Khan. Amanullah Khan, his son, and the son of Arbab Basir, were all killed in this clash in the Shindand district of Herat province in western Afghanistan.

Unlike many other factional battles in Afghanistan this non-state conflict did not take place along ethnic lines, with both warlords being Pashtun, albeit from different clans. Basir was a member of the Berkazi clan, whilst Amanullah Khan paid allegiance to the Noorzai clan. The ambush was instead allegedly motivated by Arbab Basir’s son’s quest for revenge; Arbab Basir himself had been murdered, allegedly on Amanullah’s orders, a few days earlier. It is unclear what might have motivated Amanullah Khan to murder Basir, but it appears likely that he wished to eliminate rivals in the Shindand district, which he saw as one of his strongholds. Basir’s alliance with Ismail Khan, with whom Amanullah Khan fought a non-state conflict in 2002 and 2004, might also have been a motivating factor since their rivalry over the Herat province ran deep.

This non-state conflict involves only the abovementioned ambush, after which fighting ended. A ceasefire between the two militias was imposed in Shindand by the central government and the deployment of several hundred police officers and army troops. It is also likely that fighting died down as a consequence of the demise of both factional leaders. The fighting during the ambush included the use of automatic weapons and rocket launchers.

The non-state conflict between the Forces of Amanullah Khan and the Forces of Arbab Basir is first included in UCDP data in October 2006, when on 22 October approximately 30 people were killed in clashes in the Shindand district.