Integrity Score 380
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Chapter 2 continues…
When the recruits crossed provinces inorder to capture them they were greeted with mixed reponses. They faced no resistance in some provinces while they were severely resisted in other.
After the takeover of Ghor and Herat, the Taleban militia gave the Afghan President Rabbani and it military backers five days starting from September 20, to surrender or face an attack on Kabul by its forces. The Taleban ultimatum came on the day UN Peace mission chief Mahmoud Mestiri ended his two-day visit to Kabul after being away from the capital for six months. The Taleban formed an alliance with the four-party Islamic Coordination Council, comprising the Hezb-i-Islami (Hekhmatyar), Dostum’s Jumbish-i-Milli, Mujadeddi’s ANLF and a faction of the Shia Hezb-e-Wahdat after a marathon dialogue between the two parties in Islamabad in order to oust the Rabbani regime. The negotiators agreed to form a military committee and a political committee, each with proportionate representation from both sides.
The military committee would workout how the opposition parties could coordinate in case they attacked Kabul and the political committee would take care of the political affairs concerning the formation of an interim government after the ouster of the Rabbani regime.
The Taleban militia besieged Kabul on November 23, 1995 by cutting supply lines to the government troops in a bid to compel President Rabbani to step down without bloodshed in the densely populated capital, Kabul. Inspite of UN envoy’s warning and Rabbani’s cease-fire offer during the holy month of Ramazan, the Taleban went ahead with their programme of capturing Kabul. External influences in Afghanistan complicated the scene further. Apart from Pakistan’s efforts to help the Taleban as a ‘guarantor of future influence in Afghanistan’, other regional powers like Iran, Russia and India continued with the support to the Rabbani regime.
According to a report in the New York Times on February 18, 1996, these countries were supplying arms to the government of Afghanistan, controlled by former Defence Minister Ahmed Shah Masood.