The Battles of Mazar-i-Sharif were a series of engagements fought during the Third Afghan Civil War between the forces of Abdul Malik Pahlawan and his Hazara allies, Junbish-e Milli, and the Taliban, from May 1997 to August 1998.
Background
In early 1992, when the fall of the communist government of Mohammad Najibullah was imminent, formerly communist militias dominated by ethnic Uzbeks (mostly Sunni Muslims) in northern Afghanistan mutinied against Kabul. They were united by general Abdul Rashid Dostum into the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan (Junbish-i-Milli Islami Afghanistan), best known as Junbish. This rebel faction took control of five northern provinces of Afghanistan in early 1992, effectively establishing a warlord state with the city of Mazar-i-Sharif as its capital. Junbish maintained an uneasy alliance with Hezbe Wahdat, a faction of predominantly Shia Muslim Hazaras; there was a large minority of Hazaras living in Mazar at the time.Afghanistan : Crisis of Impunity, p. 12, 16.
Though initially siding with the interim-government under Burhanuddin Rabbani (Jamiat-e Islami faction, Tajik-dominated Islamists), Junbish joined the Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin faction (Pashtun-dominated Islamists) of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in the Battle of Kabul (1992–1996) in January 1994. As the Pashtun-dominated radical Islamist Taliban faction rose to prominence in 1994 and 1995 (with significant support from Pakistan), however, Junbish was driven to reconcile itself with Jamiat, and after the Taliban conquest of Kabul in September 1996, they formed the Northern Alliance (actual name: United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan) to stop the Taliban.Afghanistan : Crisis of Impunity, p. 14–16.
On 25 June 1996, the brother of Dostum's second-in-command Abdul Malik Pahlawan, Rasul, was gunned down along with 15 of his bodyguards. Malik accused Dostum of being behind his brother's assassination, causing a feud between them.Rashid, p. 57. In May 1997, angry at Abdul Rashid Dostum's alleged involvement in this, Malik and other commanders such as Qari Alam Rosekh, General Abdul Majid Rouzi and Abdul Ghaffar Pahlawan met with Taliban commanders Mullah Abdul Razzaq and Mullah Ghaus in Baghdis. There they agreed that Malik would betray Dostum, capture Ismail Khan and take control of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif.Afghanistan Justice Project. "Casting Shadows: War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, 1978–2001." 2005. Accessed at: http://www.afghanistanjusticeproject.org/ [Accessed on 10 November 2009], page 115 According to some sources the deal was a three-point proposal in which it was agreed that the Taliban would not disarm northern troops, northern parties would have complete control over Northern Afghanistan and Malik would co-ordinate with the Taliban to bring about an Islamic dispensation.Matinuddin, Kamal. What further motivated Malik's rebellion was the fact that Dostum hadn't paid his troops for five months.Rashid, p. 58.
Battles and massacres
Taliban take control (19–27 May 1997)
On 19 May 1997, Malik defected to the Taliban, arresting several Junbish commanders and up to 5,000 Junbish soldiers.Afghanistan : Crisis of Impunity, p. 16. Taliban forces quickly came to his aid from Kabul and Herat, and one by one the northern provinces fell into the hands of the improbable Pashtun–Uzbek alliance, with Malik's forces base in Faryab Province. On 22 May 1997 fighting broke out between Dostum's forces and the Taliban in Andkhoy District and Khwaja Dokoh. Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud sent reinforcements, but did not prevail. Dostum retreated to Mazar-i-Sharif and on 24 May,, he fled to Turkey from Uzbekistan together with 135 officers and men, with his family going one day before. Crossing the Uzbek–Afghan border at Termez, Dostum had to bribe his own soldiers with US to let his convoy pass. On 25 May, Abdul Majid Rouzi arrested Ismail Khan in Baghdis and handed him over to Abdul Razzaq, the governor of Herat where he was sent to Kandahar prison. The same day, Pakistan recognised the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, followed by the United Arab Emirates on 27 May.
Although the exact details of the agreement were not clear, it appears as if the Taliban had failed to take their part. Abdul Razaq (or Razzak) was appointed as the head of the Military in the north, rather than Malik, and Malik in compensation was given the insulting position of Deputy Foreign Minister. On 25 May, the Taliban entered Mazar-i-Sharif with 2,500 heavily armed men. They began to impose Sharia law, shut down schools and Balkh University, drove women off the streets, and, most significantly, try and disarm the local Hazara and Uzbek population by the end of May, contrary to the agreement Malik had made with them. In the Hazara sections of the city, particularly in the north-east and east areas around Syedabad, local Wahdat commanders and armed "civilians" began to enlist themselves in resistance. The alliance between Malik and the Taliban disintegrated and the Hazaras turned on the Taliban. Although Pakistani diplomats flew into the city in an attempt to renegotiate the terms of the agreement, it was already too late to save it. The fact that Islamabad had given the Taliban regime official diplomatic recognition so quickly, and urged Saudi Arabia and the UAE to follow suit, further aggravated the situation. The Uzbeks increasingly realised the agreement did not represent a power share, but was in fact a Taliban takeover.
Taliban ousted (28 May – early June 1997) When a group of Hazaras resisted being disarmed on the afternoon of 28 May 1997, this led to a revolt amongst Mazar's Hazaras and soon to a general popular uprising against the Taliban. As the latter found themselves on unfamiliar terrain, they were quickly ambushed, defeated and killed or taken prisoner. Within 15 hours of fierce combat, around 600 Taliban were killed in Mazar's streets, and more than 1,000 were captured when trying to flee the airport.Rashid, p. 58–59. Malik's troops proceeded to loot the city including offices of UN agencies (whose aid workers were forced to flee), while dozens of Taliban of Pakistani origin were killed.
On 30 May, heavy fighting broke out around Syedabad. At this point, Malik allied his forces with Wahdat, taking about three thousand Taliban soldiers prisoner in Maimana, Sheberghan and Mazar-i-Sharif after their escape routes had been cut off. In the next few days, the Taliban were driven from the city, and commanders loyal to Malik regained control of the provinces of Jowzjan, Sar-i Pol, Takhar and Faryab, while a new frontline with the Taliban was established along the Murghab River in Badghis Province.Afghanistan : Crisis of Impunity, p. 17.Rashid, p. 59. Heavy fighting began over the three contested provinces of Balkh, Samangan and Kunduz.
Execution of Taliban prisoners (May–July 1997) It is reported that between May and July 1997 Abdul Malik Pahlawan (or Malik's brother General Gul Mohammad PahlawanAfghanistan Justice Project, 116) summarily executed thousands of Taliban members. "He is widely believed to have been responsible for the massacre of up to 3,000 Taliban prisoners after inviting them into Mazar-i-Sharif." Thousands of Taliban troops and hundreds of Taliban of Pakistani origin were shot dead and buried in mass graves.
Commanders such as Mullah Abdul Razzaq, Mullah Mohammad Ghaus who was the acting Taliban Foreign Minister and State Bank Governor, and Maulvi Ehsanullah were taken prisoner.Matinuddin, Kamal. "The Taliban Phenomenon: Afghanistan 1994–1997," page 100 Furthermore, Junbish commanders such as Ghulam Haidar Jawzjani were also captured and killed, along with Salam Pahlawan and Rais Omar Bey.
Anti-Taliban forces regroup (June–August 1997) The revolt against the Taliban takeover had been incredibly successful. It both inspired Massoud's forces to gain ground north of Kabul and resulted in the Hazaras in central Afghanistan managing to drive off the Taliban that had been besieging the Hazarajat for nine months. In ten weeks of fighting between May and July, the Taliban suffered over 3,000 killed or wounded, and some 3,600 became POWs, while 250 Pakistanis had been killed and 550 captured. The Taliban's morale had plummeted and they were desperately looking to replenish their losses with new recruits by closing madrasas in Pakistan and Afghanistan to conscript their students.
Malik reincorporated Jamiat-e Islami into the Mazar city's administration. On 13 June 1997, the formation of the Northern Alliance was formalised and Mazar was declared as its capital city. Rabbani was reappointed president and Massoud was appointed as Defence Minister. The coalition sought national reconciliation between the various ethnic and religious groups and across party lines, but this proved to be extremely difficult. Many in the Alliance did not trust Malik, who had committed treachery twice in May, first against Junbish and then against the Taliban.Rashid, p. 61.
Meanwhile, in June 1997,Afghanistan : Crisis of Impunity, p. 38. the local Pashtun shura of the province of Kunduz defected to the Taliban. This provided them with an important strategic base of operations to once again threaten Mazar, this time from the east.
Taliban counter-attack, Dostum returns (September–December 1997) 4 months after their defeat, the Taliban once again advanced towards Mazar in early September 1997. When they captured the town of Tashqurghan on 7 September, panic broke out in Mazar.Rashid, p. 62. At that point, Dostum returned from exile in Turkey, rallied the Uzbek troops loyal to him, and started attacking Malik's forces. The Taliban laid siege to Mazar for 23 days. Looting and killings by both Malik's and Dostum's forces was reported. The Taliban were driven back to Kunduz, but along the way, they raided several villages and killed at least 86 civilians. At least 70 Shia Hazaras were massacred by the Taliban in the village of Qazil Abad south of Mazar, perhaps hundreds more. A survivor recounted that "some had their throats slit, while others were skinned alive."Rashid, p. 61–62.
When the Taliban had retreated from Mazar, the city was taken over by Hazara militias, and Dostum was unable to reclaim his capital; he therefore set up his base in Sheberghan, the capital city of the Jowzjan Province to the west.Rashid, p. 63. In order to discredit Malik and win back his supporters, Dostum exposed the atrocities Malik had committed against the Taliban prisoners of war by unearthing 20 mass graves in the Dash-te-Laili desert near Sheberghan. (Note that Dostum's forces themselves are accused of having committed a similar massacre against Taliban POWs three years later in December 2001 in the same area, see Dasht-i-Leili massacre). Dostum offered the Taliban help to retrieve the bodies, called for a UN investigation (which soon began) and released about 200 Taliban prisoners as a gesture of goodwill. Dostum gradually reasserted his leadership over Junbish and regained control of the northern provinces outside the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, and eventually defeated Malik and forced him to escape to Iran in December 1997.