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.
Among the seven large Sunni insurgency groups based in Pakistan there were four fundamentalist and three traditional organizations. While Mahaz-i Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan favored a traditional society and a more central role for the ousted king Zahir Shah, Jamiyyat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan was one of the fundamentalist parties that could not accept any involvement of the ousted King in the new government. Although there were often political conflicts between the parties, Jam’iyyat-i Islami and Mahaz-i Milli usually did not fight each other on the battlefield. On the contrary, there are several examples where commanders from the two parties operated jointly.
When the Mujahideen groups ousted the communist President Mohammad Najibullah in 1992, Jamiyyat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan and Mahaz-i Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan both took part in the new transitional government. Jam’iyyat leader Burhanuddin Rabbani became the country’s president, while Mahaz-i Milli’s leader Sayyid Ahmad Gailani served as foreign minister.
In February 1996, while the groups were still cooperating in the coalition government, tensions between them caused fighting to take place in the northern province of Konduz. The violence erupted when a Jam’iyyat-i Islami commander decided to disarm a group of Mahaz-i Milli fighters. When local elders intervened after two days of clashes, at least 100 people had been killed, including at least 60 civilians.
When they were formed, the Mujahideen groups had limited access to advanced armaments, and relied mainly on old English rifles. However, both parties were gradually given access to sophisticated weaponry as a result of the heavy support provided by external actors. From the 1980s and onwards, the standard weapons of the insurgent groups were RPGs, AK-47s and heavy machine guns, but by the late 1980s they also had access to Stinger missiles, land mines and mortars.
The non-state conflict between Jamiyyat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan and Mahaz-i Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan is first included in UCDP data in 1996. In February of that year, clashes in Konduz province caused at least 100 battle-related deaths.
