External Actors in the Afghan Problem
continues....

In the 1990s, Pakistan, India, Russia and Iran supported competing Afghan factions in order to protect and extend their own spheres of influence in the region. Relations among Afghanistan’s various ethnic, religious and linguistic communities became more complex and troubled as the conflict progressed. After the fall of Najibullah in 1992, Afghanistan gradually fragmented into city-states resembling medieval Europe, and the traditional links between banditry and trade re-emerged.

The scene is well summarized by one astute observer of Afghan scene as, “Billions of dollars worth modern weapons that had outlasted the strategic interests of their providers were circulated in a devastated country with neither national institutions nor national identity.”

Thus the state disintegrated and the stage was set for the next level of civil war,
which was more brutal and bloody.

The core supporters of many Mujahideen leaders after the Soviet withdrawal were their ethnic kins. After the fall of Najibullah, the interim set up was predominantly non-Pashtun. Burhanuddin Rabbani’s close associates and armed guards were from his native Badakhshan province, Ahmad Shah Masood’s close confidants were Panjsheris while Abdul Rasheed Dostum’s Jowzyani militia was predominantly Uzbeks. Pashtuns resented the coalition of Rabbani-Masud-Dostum, which was entrenched in Kabul. De-tribalized Pashtuns were aligned with Gulbadin Hekhmatyar while tribal Pashtuns rallied around their traditional heads in the form of local militias. The rise of tribal militias was a complex phenomenon.

To be continued.....