SUMMARY
Politics in Afghanistan have often been characterized by violent power struggles between different leaders and groups. Although often labeled ethnic or tribal, the conflicts have been fought along more intricate patterns, often motivated by personal grudges, blood feud, regional power dynamics and/or the control of territory. The Islamist groups fighting the Soviet-backed Afghan government in the 1980s, commonly referred to as the Mujahideen, were often involved in bloody clashes against each other, although they also tried to cooperate and unite in alliances. When the Soviet forces left the country in 1989, violence escalated as the groups tried to get as much influence and resources for themselves as possible.
The leader of Jamiat-ul-Dawa (Society for the Preaching), Maulawi Jamil-ur Rahman, was originally a member of Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan (Islamic Party of Afghanistan) and headed their front in the Konar region in eastern Afghanistan in the early 1980s. With direct contacts with the elites in Saudi Arabia, Jamil-ur Rahman had access to enough funds to finance his own, independent organization and in the mid-1980s he split from Hizb-i Islami. Although the groups had much in common, both were dominated by the Pashtun ethnic group and promoted fundamentalism, Jamiat-ul-Dawa took an even more radical approach toward Islam. Adhering to the strict Salafi tradition, Jamiat-ul-Dawa was referred to as one of the most extreme Islamic parties in Afghanistan during that time.
When the Soviet forces started to pull back from Konar province in 1988, Konar province fell under Mujahideen control. Jamil-ur Rahman, who had strong support in the province, managed to eliminate the other resistance groups until his Jamiat-ul-Dawa was the strongest force in the region together with Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan. The two groups tried to cooperate and together they elected a shura, a consultative council that met in March 1990. Nevertheless, tensions between the groups grew and in January 1991 Jamil-ur Rahman announced the formation of an Islamic Emirate of Konar and appointed a government of fourteen ministers. The parties also took opposing sides in the Gulf War, in which Jamiat-ul-Dawa supported its allies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, while Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan supported the anti-American, pro-Iraqi side. During the spring of 1991, Hizb-i Islami lost its main bases in Konar, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the group who were based in Pakistan, realized that he had to launch a large offensive if his group were to keep its position in the province. In August his forces attacked the provincial capital Asadabad and forced Jamiat-ul-Dawa to flee the town. After three days of fighting. Jamil-ur Rahman fled to Bajaur in Pakistan where the governor of the Pakistani North West Frontier Province tried to mediate between the two groups. During these negotiations, in late August 1991, Jamil-ur Rahman was killed by an Egyptian journalist who immediately after the shooting committed suicide. Some fighting was reported from the area in November, but Jamiat-ul-Dawa never regained its positions in Konar.
The non-state conflict between Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan and Jamiat-ul-Dawa is first included in UCDP data in 1991. In August of that year fighting over the provincial capital Asadabad in Konar province, resulted in at least 40 battle-related deaths.
