As Massoud and I walked down the hill together, he explained, ‘I’m sending my men to Kabul not to attack the city, but to control it. Gulbuddin does not agree with my proposals.’ In other words, Hekmatyar had rejected Massoud’s ultimatum calling on him to stop attacking the capital and to join the interim government.

Hekmatyar’s latest attempt to take Kabul relied on his customary approach of intrigue backed by force. Having failed to engineer a political coup against the communist President Najibullah in 1990 – despite having the help of the turncoat defence minister, General Shahnawaz Tanai, and the Pakistani ISI – the wily Hekmatyar was now attempting a military-style coup.

Extracted from Afghan Napoleon: The Life of Ahmad Shah Massoud by Sandy Gall. Published by Speaking Tiger Books, 2022.