Chapter 2 continues…

The Taleban seized the largest Hezb-e-Islami arms depot in Afghanistan, appointed a governor in the province and established a local administration. The Taleban captured the province of Nangarhar without any serious resistance and discharged the Shura by appointing their own governor. Haji Qadir, the erstwhile Governor fled to Pakistan saying he surrendered Nangarhar to avoid civilian deaths. Thousands fled to Pakistan leading to an alarming refugee crisis in the bordering areas of Pakistan.

The capture of Nangarhar was a successful military tactic for the Taleban and gave them an extra edge towards the capture of Kabul. This was the second major victory of the Taleban after Herat and they seized all the military garrisons and police forces, as well as all the arms depots that were there after the Soviet exit. On September 13, the Taleban forces entered the province of Lagman and soon captured Mehtar Lam, its capital.

This allowed the Taleban to approach Kabul from three directions—Logar, Nangarhar, and Lagman. On September 25, the Taleban launched an offensive towards Kabul and captured the town of Sarobi, 31 miles east of Kabul. The Taleban organised themselves and attacked Kabul on September 27. The forces of Massoud retreated to the north fearing heavy civilian casualties. That day the Taleban armed forces entered the UN compound and executed Najibullah and his brother Shahpur Ahmedzai who were under the protection of the UN.

By the end of December 1996, the Taleban movement controlled three-fourths of Afghanistan. The Taleban fought their opposition in a 50-mile front in the north of Kabul and along the border of Badghis and Faryab in the northeast of Herat.

For the opposition forces which had poor logistic and communications system it was difficult to carry the battle that stretched from the eastern part of Afghanistan to the northern areas. However Taleban’s advance towards Mazar-e-Sharif turned out to be unsuccessful as they failed to mobilize their forces and lost commanding control of their troops as they came under fire from many directions.

To be continued…