This page shares information on and discusses the History of the Afghans from both sides of the Durand Line. You can join our Afghan History discussions and debates through your articles, research papers, photos and other audio-visual media such as podcasts, video clips and documentaries.
د پانړه د افغانانوتاريخ، مهمو ادوارو،واقعاتو،او نامتو بريالوپه حال بحث کوي- تاسوپه دبحث کے شريکيدوله پاره خپل اٙرټيکل،تحقيق،عکسونه،پودکاسټ،ويډيواونورمواد دلته لګول شئي-
CHRONOLOGY OF AFGHANISTAN’S HISTORY
PRE-MDOERN TO MODERN ERA OF THE PASHTUNS
(1709-38) Hotaki Dynasti.
(1709-1715) (Born 1673) Mir Wais Hotak.
(1715-1717) Abdul Aziz Hotak.
(1717-1725) Shah Mehmood Hotak.
(1725-1729) Shah Ashraf Hotak.
(1729-38) Shah Hussain Hotak.
(1747-1842) Durrani Empire.
1747-1772 Ahmed Shah Durrani.
1177H (Died)Hafiz Rehmat Khan (Rohilkhand Ruler, promoted Pashto).
1772-93 Taimr Shah.
1776 Taimur Shah shifted capital from Kandahar to Kabul.
1793-1801 Zaman Shah.
1801-1803 Mehmood Shah.
1803-1809 Shah Shuja.
1809-1818 Mehmood Shah Second rule.
1818-1819 Sultan Ali Shah.
1819-1823 Ayub Shah.
1826-1839 Dost Muhammad Khan first rule.
1834 Ranjeet Singh captured Peshawar.
1786-1831 Syed Ahmed.
1837 Battle of Jamrud.
1839-1842 Shah Shuja Second rule (First Anglo-Afghan War).
(1842-1973) Barakzai Dynasty.
1842-63 Dost Muhammad Khan Second rule.
Musahibaan are descendants of Sultan Muhammad Khan (1795-1861), nicknamed “Telai” which means “possessor of gold” or “golden”, a nickname he was given because of his love of fine clothing.
March 30, 1855 Sir Henry Lawerence Treaty with Dost Muhammad Khan.
1863-79 Sher Ali Khan.
1865-67 Afzal Khan.
1867-68 Muhammad Azam Khan.
1878-80 Second Anglo-Afghan War.
Feb-Oct 1879 Muhammad Yaqoob Khan.
26 May 1879 Treay of Gandamak.
Oct 1879-1880 Ayub Khan.
27 July 1880 Battle of Maiwand.
1880-1901 Amir Abdul Rehman Khan.
1893 Durand Line drawn.
1901-1919 Habib ul Allah Khan.
1915 Indo-German Turkish Mission of Mahendra Partap.
1919 Nasrul Allah Khan.
1919-29 Amanul Allah Khan.
1899-1968 Soraya Tarzi.
May-August 1919 Third Anglo Afghan War.
8 August 1919 Treaty of Rawalpindi.
1929 Inayatul Allah Khan King of Afghanistan.
Jan-Oct 1929 Habibul Allah Kalakani (Bacha-e-Saqa).
1929-1933 Nader Shah. Assassinated by Abdul Khaliq, A fifteen years old Hazara student.
DETERIORATION IN SIKHS MUSLIM RELATIONS
1746 Chotta Ghallugharra Sikh holocaust 7000 killed by Durranies.
1762 Vada Ghallugharra Sikh holocaust 30000 killed by Durranies.
13 July, 1813 Battle of Attock. Attock seized by Sikhs.
March-June 2, 1818 Battle of Multan. Nawab Muzaffar Khan killed. Peshawar of Yar Muhammad Khan became a vassal.
July 3, 1819 Battle of Shopian.Jabbar Khan defeated. Kashmir taken by Sikhs.
1822 Azeem Khan recaptured Peshawar.
March 1823 Battle of Nowshehra. Nowshehra taken, Sikhs reached Jamrud.
1834 Battle of Peshawar. Sultan Muhammad Khan became Sikh vassal.
30 April, 1837 Battle of Jamrud. Hari Singh Nalwa Killed.
1826 Syed Ahmed arrived in Peshawar and took it. He had a base in Sithana.
Dec. 1826 Akorra Battle, No decisive results.
1830 Uprising against Syed Ahmed.
1831 Syed Ahmed, Shah Ismail, Maulvi Abdul Hai killed in Balakot.
MODERN AFGHANISTAN ROYALIST TO REPUBLICAN (1933-73)
1933-73 Zahir Shah
1963-73 Constitutional period in Afghanistan.
1965-73 Dr Najib ul Allah served as Babrak Karmal’s close associate and bodyguard during the latter’s tenure in the lower house of parliament.
1946-53 Shah Mehmood Khan Prime Minister of Afghanistan.
1953 Sardar Daud Khan became Prime Minister of Afghanistan. On per capita basis, Afghanistan received more Soviet development aid than any other country during this time.
1953-63 Sardar Daud remained the Prime Minister of Afghanistan. He was a supporter of the Pashtunistan cause.
1964 A new constitution of Afghanistan. it barred people of the royal family to hold political office.
1965 Founding Congress of the PDPA.
1965 Parliamentary Elections in Afghanistan. Karmal was one of four PDPA members elected to the lower house of parliament; the three others were Anahita Ratebzad, Nur Ahmed Nur and Fezanul Haq Fezan. No Khalqi was elected. Anhaita Ratebzad, Khadija Ahrari, Masuma Esmati Wardak, and Roqia Abubakr (First four women parliamentarians of Afghanistan in 1965).
1967 PDPA split between Khalq of Nur Muhammad Taraki and Parcham of Babrak Karmal.
1969 Parliamentary Elections in Afghanistan. Hafizul Amin, the only Khalqi elected.
1969 Arrest of PDPA members Dastagir Panjsheri and Saleh Mohammad Zeary.
1971-72 Famine in Afghanistan.
July 17,1973 Daud Khan then-Chief of Staff General Abdul Karim Mustaghni overthrew the monarchy in a somewhat bloodless coup. The Parcham faction of the PDPA supported them. Khalq was ambivalent. National Revolutionary Party of Sardar Daud.
1973-78 Khalq under Nur Muhammad Tarakai.Hafizul Amin extended its influence in the Army. Parcham was jittery.
1973 It was rumored that Major Zia Mohammadzai, a Parchamite and head of the Republican Guard, planned to assassinate the entire Khalqist leadership. The plan, if true, failed because the Khalqists found out about it.
COMMUNIST ERA (April 18, 1978- April 26, 1992)
1976 Because of the Parchamite assassination attempt, Amin pressed the Khalqist PDPA to seize power by ousting Daoud. The majority of the PDPA leadership voted against such a move.
1977 Dr Najib ul Allah was elected to the Central Committee
1977 Parcham and Khalq reconciled.
1977 Najibullah a member of the ruling Revolutionary Council. However, the Khalq faction of the PDPA gained supremacy over his own Parcham faction, and after a brief stint as Ambassador to Iran, he was dismissed from government and went into exile in Europe.
18 April 1978 Mir Akber Khyber of PDPPA-Parcham murdered. The assassin was never caught, but Anahita Ratebzad, a Parchamite, believed that Amin had ordered the assassination. Demonstrations followed. Hafiz-ul-Amin organized them. Amin was put under House Arrest. His son, Abdur Rahman, was still allowed freedom of movement. Nur Muhammad Taraki was arrested. Tarkai’s arrest started a chain of event leading to the Saur Revolution.
27-28 April 1978 9:00 Am. Saur Revolution started in Afghanistan under Hafizul Amin. Nur Muhammad Taraki became President (General Secretary of the Revolutionary Council). Hafizullah Amin became the Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minster. The revolution was successful, thanks to overwhelming support from the Afghan military; for instance, it was supported by Defense Minister Ghulam Haidar Rasuli, Aslam Watanjar the commander of the ground forces, and the Chief of Staff of the Afghan Air Force, Abdul Qadir. Babrak Karmal became Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Council, Mohammad Aslam Watanjar became a Deputy Prime Minister. The two Parchamites Abdul Qadir and Mohammad Rafi became Minister of National Defense and Minister of Public Works respectively. According to Angel Rasanayagam, the appointment of Amin, Karmal and Watanjar as Deputy Prime Ministers led to the establishment of three cabinets; the Khalqists were answerable to Amin, the Parchamites were answerable to Karmal, and the military officers (who were Parchamites) were answerable to Watanjar.
April 1978-Dec 1979 Afghan communists executed 27,000 political prisoners at the sprawling Pul-i-Charki prison six miles east of Kabul. Many of the victims were village mullahs and headmen who were obstructing the modernization and secularization of the intensely religious Afghan countryside.
May 28, 1978 Anahita Ratebzad wrote the famous New Kabul Times editorial, which declared:
“Privileges which women, by right, must have are equal education, job security, health services, and free time to rear a healthy generation for building the future of the country … Educating and enlightening women is now the subject of close government attention.”
27 June, 1978 Three months after the revolution, Amin managed to outmaneuver the Parchamites at a Central Committee meeting. The meeting decided that the Khalqists had exclusive rights to formulate and decide policy, a policy which left the Parchamites impotent. Karmal was exiled, but was able to establish a network with the remaining Parchamites in government.
August 1978 Taraki and Amin uncovered a “plot” and executed or imprisoned several cabinet members, including the military leader of the Saur Revolution, General Abdul Qadir.
29 March 1979 The Herat Uprising.
September 1979 A coup to overthrow Amin was planned for September. Its leading members in Afghanistan were Qadir, the defense minister, and Army Chief of Staff General Shahpur Ahmedzai. The coup was planned for 4 September, on the Festival of Eid, because soldiers and officers would be off duty. The conspiracy failed when the Afghan ambassador to India told the Afghan leadership about the plan. A purge was initiated, and Parchamite ambassadors were recalled; few returned, for example Karmal and Mohammad Najibullah both stayed in their assigned countries. Alexander Puzanov, the Soviet ambassador to Afghanistan, was able to persuade Aslam Watanjar, Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy and Sherjan Mazdoryar to become part of a conspiracy against Amin.
September 11, 1979 Taraki convened the cabinet “ostensibly to report on the Havana Summit”. Instead of reporting on the summit, Taraki tried to dismiss Amin as Prime Minister. Amin, aware of the murder plot, demanded the Gang of Four to be removed from their posts, but Taraki laughed it off. Taraki sought to neutralize Amin’s power and influence by requesting that he serve overseas as an ambassador. Amin turned down the proposal, shouting “You are the one who should quit! Because of drink and old age, you have taken leave of your senses.”
September 13, 1979 Taraki invited Amin to the presidential palace for lunch with him and the Gang of Four. Amin turned down the offer, stating he would prefer their resignation rather than lunching with them.
September 14,1979 Soviet ambassador Puzanov persuaded Amin to make the visit to the Presidential Palace along with Taroon, the Chief of Police, and Nawab Ali, an intelligence officer. Inside the palace, bodyguards within the building opened fire on the visitors. Taroon was killed but Amin only sustained an injury and escaped. Amin drove to the Ministry of Defense building, put the Army on high alert and ordered Taraki’s arrest. At 6:30pm tanks from the 4th Armored Corps entered the city and stood at government buildings. Shortly afterwards, Amin returned to the palace with a contingent of Army officers, and placed Taraki under arrest. The Gang of Four, however, had “disappeared” and sought refuge in the Soviet Embassy.
October 8, 1979 It is believed Taraki was suffocated with pillows. The Afghan media would report that the ailing Taraki had died, omitting any mention of his murder. Following Taraki’s fall from power, Amin was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Revolutionary Council and General Secretary of the PDPA Central Committee by the PDPA Politburo. The election of Amin as PDPA General Secretary and the removal of Taraki from all party posts was unanimous. The only members of the cabinet replaced when Amin took power were the Gang of Four – Beverley Male saw this as “a clear indication that he had their [the ministers’] support”. Amin’s rise to power was followed by a policy of moderation, and attempts to persuade the Afghan people that the regime was not anti-Islamic. Amin’s government began to invest in the reconstruction, or reparation, of mosques. He also promised the Afghan people freedom of religion. Religious groups were given copies of the Quran, and Amin began to refer to Allah in speeches. He even claimed that the Saur Revolution was “totally based on the principles of Islam”. The campaign proved to be unsuccessful, and many Afghans held Amin responsible for the regime’s totalitarian behavior.
20 September,1979 Amin’s rise to power was officially endorsed by the Jamiat-Ul-Ulama. Their endorsement led to the official announcement that Amin was a pious Muslim – Amin thus scored a point against the counter-revolutionary propaganda which claimed the communist regime was atheist. Amin also tried to increase his popularity with tribal groups, a feat Taraki had been unable or unwilling to achieve. In a speech to tribal elders Amin was defensive about the Western way he dressed; an official biography was published which depicted Amin in traditional Pashtun clothes. During his short stay in power, Amin became committed to establishing a collective leadership; when Taraki was ousted, Amin promised “from now on there will be no one-man government. Amin had met personally with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Early Dec,1979 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposed a joint summit meeting between Amin and Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan. The Pakistani Government, accepting a modified version of the offer, agreed to send Agha Shahi, the Pakistani foreign minister, to Kabul for talks. In the meanwhile, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistani’s secret police, continued to train Mujahideen fighters who opposed the communist regime.
Early to Mid-Dec, 1979 The Soviet leadership had established an alliance with Babrak Karmal and Assadullah Sarwari.
27 December 1979 Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. The troops had entered with Amin’s knowledge and approval. Hafizullah Amin, was killed Under Operation Strom 33. They thought he was a CIA agent. Soviets invoked Twenty Year Afghan-Soviet Treaty for making intervention.
January 1, 1980 Babrak Karmal became president of Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal means, “Comrade of the workers.” Vengeance against Khalqis started. Amin’s daughter, along with her baby, was imprisoned for twelve years, until Mohammad Najibullah, then leader of the PDPA, released her in 1992. Despite this he started a policy of national reconciliation and broadening the base of the PDPA. Fundamental Principles of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, brain child of Hafizul Amin implemented. In his first live speech to the Afghan people, Karmal called for the establishment of the National Fatherland Front (NFF).
1980-85 Dr Najib Ul Allah was Afghanistan’s Minister of State Security.
1980 Dr Najib Ul Allah was appointed the head of KHAD. He was also promoted to the rank of Major General. Yuri Andropov, the KGB Chairman was among his patrons. During his six years as head of KHAD he had two to four deputies under his command, who in turn were responsible for an estimated 12 departments. According to evidence, Najibullah was dependent on his family and his professional network, and appointed more often than not people he knew to top positions within the KHAD. Under Najibullah, KHAD’s personnel increased from 120 to 25,000 to 30,000. KHAD employees were amongst the best-paid government bureaucrats in communist Afghanistan, and because of it, the political indoctrination of KHAD officials was a top priority. During a PDPA conference Najibullah, talking about the indoctrination program of KHAD officials, said “a weapon in one hand, a book in the other. Terrorist activities launched by KHAD reached its peak under Najibullah. He reported directly to the Soviet KGB, and a big part of KHAD’s budget came from the Soviet Union itself. During his period as KHAD chief that the Pul-i Charki had become the home of several Khalqist politicians.
June 1981 The NFF’s founding congress was held.
1981 Najibullah was appointed to the PDPA Politburo along with Mohammad Aslam Watanjar, a former tank commander and the then Minister of Communications and Major General Mohammad Rafi, the Minister of Defense.
14 and 15 March 1982 The PDPA held a party conference at the Kabul Polytechnic Institute instead of a party congress, since a party congress would have given the Khalq faction a majority and could have led to a Khalqist takeover of the PDPA. The rules of holding a party conference were different, and the Parchamites had a three-fifths majority. This infuriated several Khalqists; the threat of expulsion did not lessen their anger. The conference was not successful, but it was portrayed as such by the official media. The conference broke up after one and a half days of a 3-day long program, because of the inter-party struggle for power between the Khalqists and the Parchamites. A “program of action” was introduced, and party rules were given minor changes. As an explanation of the low party membership, the official media also made it seem hard to become a member of the party.
January 1984 The land reform introduced by Taraki and Amin was drastically modified, the limits of landholdings were increased to win the support of middle class peasants, the literacy program was continued, and concessions to women were made.
1985 Loya Jirga was reconvened.
September 1985 Tribal Jirga was convened.
1986 Abdul Rahim Hatef, a non-PDPA member, was elected to the NFF chairmanship.
1985-86 By these elections it was said that 60 percent of the elected officials were non-PDPA members. By the end of Karmal’s rule, several non-PDPA members had high-level government positions. The most effective, and largest, assaults on the Mujahideen were undertaken. These offensives had forced the Mujahideen on the defensive near Herat and Kandahar.
1985 Najibullah stepped down as state security minister to focus on PDPA politics.
Nov. 1985 Najib ul Allah appointed to PDPA Secretariat.
1986 Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, was able to get Karmal to step down as PDPA General Secretary and replace him with Najibullah. The Soviets ensued a bomb and negotiate during 1986, and a major offensive that year included 10,000 Soviet troops and 8,000 Afghan troops.
March 1986 During his visit to Moscow, the Soviets pressurized Karmal to resign.
4 May 1986 Najibullah succeeded Karmal as PDPA General Secretary at the 18th PDPA meeting, but Karmal still retained his post as Chairman of the Presidium of the Revolutionary Council.
13 Nov. 1986 A PDPA meeting in November relieved Karmal of his Revolutionary Council chairmanship, and exiled him to Moscow where he was given a state-owned apartment and a dacha. Many years later, he denounced the Saur Revolution.
September 1986 A National Compromise Commission (NCC) was established on the orders of Najibullah. The NCC’s goal was to contact counter-revolutionaries “in order to complete the Saur Revolution in its new phase.” Allegedly, an estimated 40,000 rebels were contacted by the government.
End of 1986 Najibullah called for a six-months ceasefire and talks between the various opposition forces, this was part of his policy of National Reconciliation. The discussions, if fruitful, would lead to the establishment of a coalition government and be the end of the PDPA’s monopoly of power. The program failed, but the government was able to recruit disillusioned Mujahideen fighters as government militias. In many ways, the National Reconciliation led to an increasing number of urban dwellers to support his rule, and the stabilization of the Afghan defense forces.
September 1986 A new constitution was written, it weakened the powers of the head of state by canceling his absolute veto. The reason for this move, according to Najibullah, was the need for real-power sharing.
Jan 1986- March 1992 The Five-Year Economic and Social Development Plan.
1987-1992 Dr. Najib ul Allah government. He was a Parchamite. Throughout his tenure, he tried to build support for his government via the National Reconciliation reforms by distancing from socialism in favor of Afghan nationalism, abolishing the one-party state and letting non-communists join the government. He remained open to dialogue with the Mujahideen and other groups, made Islam an official religion, and invited exiled businessmen back to re-take their properties.
1989-92 Najib ul Allah government tried to solve the ongoing civil war without Soviet troops on the ground. While direct Soviet assistance ended with the withdrawal, the Soviet Union still supported Najibullah with economic and military aid, while Pakistan and the United States continued its support for the Mujahideen.
15th January 1987 Najibullah requested a six-month ceasefire between Mujahideen and government forces, in this period he came up with various of proposals aimed at “National Reconciliation.” A new constitution was ratified by the Loya Jirga in 1987. The new constitution abolished the one-party system in the country and saw the establishment of the Meli Shura (Loya jirga), Sena (Senate) and the Wolasi Jirga (House of Representatives) which would eventually replace the Revolutionary Council which had been the ruling organ since the PDPA’s establishment in 1965. The word “Democratic” was also removed from the country’s official name, and since 1987 the official name of the country was the Republic of Afghanistan. Islam became the official state religion again after the talks with opposition.
13 July 1987 The official name of Afghanistan was changed from the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan to Republic of Afghanistan.
July 1987 Mujahideen replied to these proposals at a general meeting in Ghur Province. The meeting was called together by Mujahideen resistance leader Ismail Khan in Herat Province. Najibullah’s proposal was rejected and the six-month ceasefire agreement ended.
29 Nov. 1987 Dr. Najib’s new constitution was adopted. Government introduced a law permitting the formation of other political parties, announced that it would be prepared to share power with representatives of opposition groups in the event of a coalition government, and issued a new constitution providing for a new bicameral National Assembly (Meli Shura), consisting of a Senate (Sena) and a House of Representatives (Wolesi Jirga), and a president to be indirectly elected to a 7-year term. Islamic principles were embedded in the 1987 constitution, for instance, Article 2 of the constitution stated that Islam was the state religion, and Article 73 stated that the head of state had to be born into a Muslim Afghan family.
By 1987 According to Soviet advisors, a bitter debate within the party had broken out between those who advocated the Islamization of the party and those who wanted to defend the gains of the Saur Revolution. Opposition to his policy of National Reconciliation was met party-wide, but especially from Karmalists. Many people did not support the handing out of the already small state resources the Afghan state had at its disposal. During Babrak Karmal’s later years, and during Najibullah’s tenure, the PDPA tried to improve their standing with Muslims by moving, or appearing to move, to the political center. They wanted to create a new image for the party and state. In 1987 Najibullah re-added Ullah to his name to appease the Muslim community. Communist symbols were either replaced or removed. These measures did not contribute to any notable increase in support for the government, because the Mujahedeen had a stronger legitimacy to protect Islam than the government; they had rebelled against what they saw as an anti-Islamic government, that government was the PDPA.
1987 Local elections were held.
1988 Parliamentary Elections held in Afghanistan. The PDPA won 46 seats in the House of Representatives and controlled the government with support from the National Front, which won 45 seats, and from various newly recognized left-wing parties, which had won a total of 24 seats. Although the election was boycotted by the Mujahideen, the government left 50 of the 234 seats in the House of Representatives, as well as a small number of seats in the Senate, vacant in the hope that the guerrillas would end their armed struggle and participate in the government. The only armed opposition party to make peace with the government was Hizbollah, a small Shi’a party.
14 April, 1988 Afghan and Pakistani governments signed the Geneva Accords, and the Soviet Union and the United States signed as guarantors; the treaty specifically stated that the Soviet military had to withdraw from Afghanistan by 15 February 1989.
June 1988 Revolutionary Council, whose members were elected by the party leadership, was replaced by a National Assembly, an organ in which members were to be elected by the people. The PDPA’s socialist stance was denied even more than previously.
1989 The Minister of Higher Education began to work on the “de-Sovietisation” of universities.
February 1989 Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan.
18 February 1989 Najibullah government introduced the state of emergency. 1,700 intellectuals were arrested in February alone, and until November 1991 the government still supervised and restricted freedom of speech. Another problem was that party members took his policy seriously too, Najibullah resented that most party members felt “panic and pessimism.” At the Second Conference of the party, the majority of members, maybe up to 60 percent, were radical socialists.
1989-90 Najibullah government was partially successful in building up the Afghan defense forces. The Ministry of State Security had established a local militia force which stood at an estimated 100,000 men. The 17th Division in Herat, which had begun the 1979 Herat uprising against PDPA-rule, stood at 3,400 regular troops and 14,000 tribal men. In 1988, the total number of security forces available to the government stood at 300,000.
March 5 -July 1989 The Battle for Jalalabad.
Dec, 1989 Coup attempt by Khalqists was foiled. General Shah Nawaz Tanai has been linked to it.
6 March 1990 General Shahnawaz Tanai, a hardline communist and Khalqist who served as Minister of Defence, attempted to overthrow President Mohammad Najibullah of the Republic of Afghanistan. The coup attempt failed and Tanai was forced to flee to Pakistan. He was supported by Hekmatyaar. Tanai was apparently also supported by those important Khalqists who remained in the Politburo, Assadullah Sarwari and Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy, respectively their country’s envoys to Aden and Moscow. Air Force Commander Abdul Qadir Aqa was an accomplice. Most of the factions viewed General Tanai as an opportunistic war criminal and hardline communist who was responsible for carpet-bombings in portions of the major western city of Herat in March 1979. In all, 127 Khalqist military officers were arrested for the attempted coup, including Sarwari and Gulabzoy. Twenty-seven officers escaped and later showed up at a press conference with Hekmatyar in Peshawar. Former Minister of Tribal Affairs, Bacha Gul Wafadar and Minister of Civil Aviation Hasan Sharq were among the conspirators. ISI engineered it. Interior Minister Mohammad Aslam Watanjar played a major role in halting the coup plotters.
March 7, 1990 Tanai escaped to Bagram Air Base and fled by helicopter to Peshawar, Pakistan where he was greeted and publicly accepted as an ally by Hekmatyar. Eventually, he settled there in Pakistan, where he lived in exile until
August 4, 1990 A general and two commanders loyal to Tanai were killed during the coup attempt.
1990 It was announced by a PDPA party member that all PDPA members were Muslims and that the party had abandoned Marxism. Many parts of the Afghan government’s economic monopoly were also broken, this had more to do with the tight situation than any ideological conviction. The PDPA still demanded it held on to all deputy ministers, retained its majority in the state bureaucracy and that it retained all its provincial governors. The government was not willing to concede all of these positions, and when the offer was broadcast, the ministries of defense and state security.
1990 Dr Najib ul Allah’s new constitution. All references to communism were removed and Islam became the state religion. These changes, coupled with others, did not win Najibullah any significant support due to his role at KHAD. The 1990 constitution stated that Afghanistan was an Islamic state, and the last references to communism were removed. Article 1 of the 1990 Constitution said that Afghanistan was an “independent, unitary and Islamic state.”
1990 Soviet aid amounted to an estimated 3 billion US dollars.
By 1990 Afghan government forces were on the defensive again.
By 1991 The Afghan government controlled only 10 percent of Afghanistan, the eleven-year Siege of Khost had ended in a mujahideen victory and the morale of the Afghan military finally collapsed.
June 20, 1991 For unknown reasons, Karmal was invited back to Kabul by Najibullah, and “for equally obscure reasons Karmal accepted.
Autumn 1991 Najibullah wrote to Shevardnadze “I didn’t want to be president, you talked me into it, insisted on it, and promised support. Now you are throwing me and the Republic of Afghanistan to its fate.”
Until Nov 1991 Dr. Najib ul Allah’s government still supervised and restricted freedom of speech.
26 December 1991 Soviet Union collapsed. Najibullah turned to former Soviet Central Asia for aid. These newly independent states had no wish to see Afghanistan being taken over by religious fundamentalists, and supplied Afghanistan with 6 million barrels of oil and 500,000 tons of wheat to survive the winter.
1992 Parcham-led PDPA converted itself into the Watan Party of Afghanistan.
January 1992 Soviets ended aid to Dr. Najib. The effects were felt immediately: The Afghan Air Force, the most effective part of the Afghan military, was grounded due to lack of fuel. The Afghan Mujahideen continued to be supported by Pakistan and establishment. Major cities were lost to the rebels, and terrorist attacks became common in Kabul.
15th January 1992 On the fifth anniversary of his policy of National Reconciliation, Najibullah blamed the Soviet Union for the disaster that had stricken Afghanistan. The day the Soviet Union withdrew was hailed by Najibullah as the Day of National Salvation. But it was too late, and his government’s collapse was imminent.
March 18, 1992 Najibullah offered his government’s immediate resignation, and followed the United Nations (UN) plan to be replaced by an interim government with all parties involved in the struggle.
April 1992 General Abdul Rashid Dostum defected to the forces of Ahmed Shah Massoud, and began to take control of Kabul.
Mid-April 1992 Dr. Najib Ul Allah’s government collapsed. Najibullah accepted a UN plan to hand power to a seven-man council.
April 14, 1992 Najibullah was forced to resign on the orders of the Watan Party because of the loss of Bagram Airbase and the town of Charikar. Abdul Rahim Hatef became acting head of state following Najibullah’s resignation.
April 17, 1992 Najibullah attempted to flee from Kabul, but was stopped by Dostum’s troops, who controlled Kabul International Airport.
26 April, 1992 Peshawar Accords were announced, proclaiming an Afghan interim government (Islamic State of Afghanistan) to start serving on 28 April 1992. It stipulated that an interim government would be formed with a supreme leadership council. A transitory presidency was given to Sibghatullah Mojaddedi for two months, after which Burhanuddin Rabbani was to succeed him. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was given the post of Prime Minister, but he did not accept this position as he did not want to share power and Pakistan was urging him to take power for himself.
April 30, 1992 Kabul came completely under Islamic State control.
1992-96 After a failed attempt to flee to India, Najibullah remained in Kabul living in the United Nations headquarters until 1996, when the Taliban movement took Kabul. He engaged himself in translating Peter Hopkirk’s book The Great Game into his mother tongue Pashto. A few months before his death, he quoted, “Afghans keep making the same mistake,” reflecting upon his translation to a visitor.
1994 India sent senior diplomat M K Bhadrakumar to Kabul to hold talks with Ahmad Shah Massoud, the defense minister, to consolidate relations with the Afghan authorities, reopen the embassy, and allow Najibullah to fly to India, but Massoud refused. Bhadrakumar wrote in 2016 that he believed Massoud did not want Najibullah to leave as Massoud could strategically make use of him, and that Massoud “probably harbored hopes of a co-habitation with Najib somewhere in the womb of time because that extraordinary Afghan politician was a strategic asset to have by his side”.
September 1996 When the Pakistan-backed Taliban were about to enter Kabul, Massoud offered Najibullah an opportunity to flee Kabul. Najibullah refused. The reasons as to why he refused remain unclear. Massoud himself has claimed that Najibullah feared that “if he fled with the Tajiks, he would be forever damned in the eyes of his fellow Pashtuns.” Others, like general Tokhi, who was with Dr. Najibullah until the day before his torture and execution, have stated that Najibullah mistrusted Massoud after his militia had repeatedly put the UN compound under rocket fire and had effectively barred Najibullah from leaving Kabul. “If they wanted Najibullah to flee Kabul in safety,” Tokhi said, “they could have provided him the opportunity as they did with other high ranking officials from the communist party from 1992 to 1996.” Thus when Massoud’s militia came to both Dr. Najibullah and General Tokhi and asked them to come with them to flee Kabul, they rejected the offer.
September 26, 1996 The Taliban shot and killed Najibullah before hanging his body along with his brother’s from a traffic post.
December 1996 Babrak Karmal died.
Era of War Lords (Mujahideen) 1992 to 1996
1959 Sibghatullah Mojaddedi was accused of conspiring against then Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev and was imprisoned until 1964
1969 Sayyaf was a member of the Afghan-based Ikhwan al-Muslimin, founded in 1969 by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Dr. Burhanuddin Rabbani and having strong links to the original and much larger Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
1973 Ustad (Professor) Abdul Sayyaf was a professor at the Shariat (Islamic law) faculty of Kabul University when he plotted with Burhanuddin Rabbani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to overthrow President Daoud Khan. The coup failed and he was forced to flee to Pakistan.
1978 Ustad Sayyaf was imprisoned by the PDPA. He was freed in controversial circumstances by the second PDPA leader Hafizullah Amin, who, coincidentally, happened to be Sayyaf’s distant relative.
1980 Sayyaf arrived in Peshawar.
1981 Sayyaf formed and headed the Ittihad-i-Islami Baraye Azadi Afghanistan, or Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan.
1985 Sayyaf founded a university in an Afghan refugee camp near Peshawar called Dawa’a al-Jihad, (Call of Jihad), which has been described the “preeminent school for terrorism.” Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who masterminded the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, attended it.
1980s French adventurer Patrice Franceschi fought alongside Amin Wardak and his Mujahideen.
1989 Hizb-e Wahdat was founded.
Feb. 1989 Haji Nasrullah Baryalai Arsalai participated as a delegate in the Rawalpindi shura to select the Mujahideen’s interim government.
1991 Maulvi Muhammad Younis Khalis wrote “An Appeal to Support the Holy War in the Sudan.” Many prominent Mujahideen commanders including Abdul Haq, Amin Wardak, Faisal Babakarkhail and Jalaluddin Haqqani were affiliated with Hezb-e-Islami Khalis.
26 April 1992 Peshawar Accords signed by Afghan Mujahideen parties discussing in Peshawar (Pakistan) They agreed on proclaiming a leadership council assuring residual powers for the party leaders under an interim President Sibghatullah Mojaddedi or Mujaddidi (a religious leader) serving from 28 April to 28 June 1992.Jamiat-e Islami’s leader Burhanuddin Rabbani would then succeed him as interim President until 28 October, and also in 1992 a national shura was to ratify a provisional constitution[2] and choose an interim government for eightteen months, followed by elections. In these Peshawar Accords, Ahmad Shah Massoud was appointed as interim minister of defense for the Mujaddidi government.
1992 Sibghatullah Mojaddedi was the chair of the Islamic Jihad Council that was set up to establish a post-Soviet Afghan government.
After the fall of the communist government, Maulvi Khalis forces controlled Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan. Khalis participated in the Islamic Interim Government. He was a member of the Leadership Council (Shura-ye Qiyaadi), but held no other official post. Instead of moving to Kabul, he chose to remain in Nangarhar.
Jalal-ud-Din Haqqani was appointed Justice Minister of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, and refrained from taking sides in the fratricidal conflict that broke out between Afghan factions during the 1990s, a neutrality that was to earn him respect.
While war raged in Kabul under the Presidency of Burhanuddin Rabbani, for the first time in the history of Afghanistan Amin Wardak established free elections in the province of Wardak in order to elect its Governor.Dr Guy Caussé and Dr Joseph-Louis Rabette from Médecins du Monde witnessed it while they were in Wardak at that time.
1993 Sayyaf’s faction of Mujahideen turned on civilians and the Shia Hezb-i Wahdat group massacring many people.
1994 Dostum switched sides to join Hekmatyar.
1995 Dostum switched sides again and backed Rabbani.
Jalal ud Din haqqani switched sides to join the Taliban.
1995 Amin Wardak had to flee Afghanistan because he was under serious threat due to its very critical position against the Mujahideen who took part in the civil war between 1992-1996.
PESHAWAR SEVEN MUJAHIDDEN GROUPS (1981 0R 1985)
Hizb-e Islami Gulbuddin Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Hizb-e Islami Khalis Mulavi Younas Khalis (1919- 2006) Nangarhar, Khogyani District
Ittehad-e Islami bara-ye
Azadi-ye Afghanistan Abdul Rasul Sayyaf (1946) Paghman
Mahaz-e Milli-ye Islami-
ye Afghanistan Pir Syed Ahmed Gailani (1932- January 21, 2017) Kabul and eastern Nangarhar Province, Surkh-Rōd District,Royalist.
Jamiat-I-Islami Burhan-ud-Rabbani
Jebh-e-Nejat-e Melli Sibghatullah Mojaddedi (21 April, 1925) Kabul
Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-
Islami Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi (1920-2002) Shah Mazar, Logar Province. It operated in Southern Afghan Provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Ghazni, Paktika, and Wardak. It was not as strong a group as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-i-Islami or Ahmed Shah Massoud’s forces. The movement was part of the ‘Peshawar Seven’ coalition of Mujahedeen forces.
MUJAHIDEEN WAR GROUPS (1992-96)
Hizb-e-Islami Gulbadin Hikmatyar
Ittihad-e-Islami Abdul Rasool Sayyaf
Harkat-e-Inqilab-I-Islami Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi
Jamiat-I-Islami Ahmed Shah Masood
Hizb-e-Wahdat-I-Islami Abdul Ali Mazari
The Taliban Era (1996-2001)
1996 Osama Bin Laden comes to Afghanistan.
1996 Sayyaf invited Osama to Afghanistan after his expulsion from Afghanistan. He has been considered a member of the Northern Alliance, despite his close relationship with militant groups such as Al-Qaeda that opposed it. He has also been accused of having knowingly assisted the two assassins that killed Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud in a suicide bomb blast two days before the attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001.
September 1996 The Taliban brought Nangarhar under their control and Khalis was supportive of the Taliban movement and had a close relationship with Taliban commanders.
1996 United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan formed.
Late 1990s Khalis resided in Pakistan. After the fall of the Taliban, his supporters regained their stronghold in Jalalabad where Khalis exerted considerable influence, although he held no official post. Two of his close associates, Haji Abdul Qadir and Haji Din Mohammad served as governors of Nangarhar Province after the fall of the Communist regime.
1997 Dostum was forced to flee after his former aide Abdul Malik Pahlawan took Mazar-i-Sharif, before he fought back and regained control.
1998 Taliban overran Mazar Sharif. Dostum fled.
September 11,2001 Al-Qaeda attacks in Afghanistan.
October, 2011 US-led Allied forces attack Afghanistan.
Nov 25-Dec 2001 The Battle of Qala-i-Jangi.
December 2001 General Dostum Killed 2000 Taliban prisoners in Dasht-I-Leilli
December 2001 After the Karzai administration was formed in which many former warlords, mujahideen, and others took part, Interim-President Hamid Karzai decided to offer Haqqani a position in government but was rejected by Haqqani.
By December 2001 The Taliban Government had fallen.
Post 9/11 2001 Afghanistan
December 5, 2001 The Bonn Agreement sets up Provisional Government in Afghanistan.
22 December 2001- 29 September 2014 Hamid Karzai was the leader of Afghanistan.
June 2002 Loya Jirga called up in Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai is made the chairman of the Transitional Government.
2002 Arsalai, Baryalai established a monthly newspaper “Afghan Yawwalay” (Afghan unity).
2003 Sibghatullah Mojaddedi the founder of the Afghan National Liberation Front, served as the chairman of the 2003 loya jirga that approved Afghanistan’s new constitution. Sayyaf was elected as one of the 502 representatives at the Constitutional Loya Jirga in Kabul, chairing one of the working groups. His party member Fazal Hadi Shinwari was appointed by Hamid Karzai as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in violation of the constitution, as Fazal was over the age limit and trained only in religious, not secular, law.
4 January 2004 Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga adopts a new constitution for Afghanistan
2009 Presidential Elections in Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai wins them.
2005 Sibghatullah Mojaddedi was appointed chairman of the Meshrano Jirga, upper house of the National Assembly of Afghanistan, and was reappointed as a member in 2011. He also serves on the Afghan High Peace Council.
Sayyaf’s Ittehad-al-Islami (or Islamic Union) was converted into the political party, the Islamic Dawah Organisation of Afghanistan.
2007 Sayyaf an influential member of parliament and has called for an amnesty for former mujahideen.
2002-9 Arsalai was chief organizer of the People’s Advisory Shura (Wolesi Mashvurati Shura), a mass movement of people in Nangarhar and Eastern Afghanistan aimed to mobilize popular participation in the Bonn political process. Significant achievements of this movement included organizing the consultations in Eastern Afghanistan on drafting of the constitution (2003), facilitating recruitment to the new Afghan National Army and opposing opium cultivation.
2009 French publishing house Arthaud of Flammarion Group published Amin Wardak’s War Memoirs.
2009 Presidential Elections in Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai wins them.
2010 Amar ul Allah Saleh created a pro-democracy and anti-Taliban movement called Basej-e Milli (National Mobilization) and Green Trend.
2014 Sayyaf was an announced candidate for the President of Afghanistan in the presidential election, in which he received 7.04% of the vote in the first round, as the candidate for the aforementioned Islamic Dawah Organisation of Afghanistan, and winning Kandahar Province. Dostum joined Ashraf Ghani’s presidential administration as a vice president
26 August 2015 Sibghatullah Mojaddedi launched a new political party, the Council of Jihad and National Political Parties.
2017 Dostum was forced to flee again after being accused of sexually assaulting a political rival.
