CRS Report for Congress
Order Code RL30588
Afghanistan: Post-War Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy

(pp. 7-8)

The Mujahedin Government and Rise of the Taliban

The fall of Najibullah exposed the differences among the mujahedin parties. The leader of one of the smaller parties (Afghan National Liberation Front), Islamic scholar Sibghatullah Mojadeddi, became president during April - May 1992. Under an agreement among the major parties, Rabbani became President in June 1992 with the understanding that he would serve until December 1994. He refused to step down at that time, saying that political authority would disintegrate without a clear successor. Kabul was subsequently shelled by other mujahedin factions, particularly that of nominal “prime minister” Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, who accused Rabbani of monopolizing power. Hikmatyar’s radical Islamist Hizb-e-Islami (Islamic Party) had received a large proportion of the U.S. aid during the anti-Soviet war. Four years of civil war (1992-1996) created popular support for the Taliban as a movement that could deliver Afghanistan from the factional infighting.

The Taliban was formed in 1993-1994 by Afghan Islamic clerics and students, many of them former mujahedin who had become disillusioned with continued conflict among mujahedin parties and had moved into Pakistan to study in Islamic seminaries (“madrassas”). They were practitioners of an orthodox Sunni Islam called “Wahhabism,” which is similar to that practiced in Saudi Arabia. The Taliban was composed of ethnic Pashtuns (Pathans) from rural areas of Afghanistan who viewed the Rabbani government as corrupt, anti-Pashtun, and responsible for civil war. With the help of defections, the Taliban seized control of the southeastern city of Qandahar in November 1994; by February 1995, it had reached the gates of Kabul, after which an 18-month stalemate around the capital ensued. In September 1995, the Taliban captured Herat province, bordering Iran, and imprisoned its governor, Ismail Khan, a Tajik ally of Rabbani and Masud, who later escaped and took refuge in Iran. In September 1996, Taliban victories near Kabul led to the withdrawal of Rabbani and Masud to their Panjshir Valley redoubt north of Kabul with most of their heavy weapons; the Taliban took control of Kabul on September 27, 1996.

Immediately thereafter, Taliban gunmen entered a U.N. facility in Kabul to seize Najibullah, his brother, and aides sheltered there, and subsequently hanged them.
So much for Taliban respect for I Law and the GCs in September 1996 - Najibullah (who was a "bad guy") et al. had no trial - it was a good old fashioned lynching (mutilation and hanging - covered BTW by Soldier of Fortune back in that day - photos, etc.).

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Embassy of Afghanistan
History
About the Embassy

Afghan Representatives in Washington, D.C. (1992-1996)
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Abdul Rahim, charge d'affaires (1992-1994)
Yar Mohammad Mohabat, charge d'affaires (1994-1995)

[JMM Note: Mohabat continued as charge d'affaires in Washington through 1996 and into 1997. See next part 1996-2001.]

American Ambassadors to Afghanistan (1992-1996)
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From 1979 - 2001, the United States did not have an Ambassador posted in Afghanistan, although U.S. interests in Afghanistan were represented by a number of charge d'affaires. From 1981 [sic ?] to 2002, there was no official U.S. embassy in Kabul.
Despite the turmoil in Afghanistan, diplomatic relations continued with the Rabbani government from June 1992 until well into 1997.