The Complex Web Of Factions In The Afghanistan War

The War in Afghanistan was an armed conflict that lasted from 2001 to 2021. It was a response to the September 11 attacks, which were plotted by al-Qaeda, a terrorist group that operated within Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban, an ultraconservative political and religious faction that ruled most of the country.

Following the attacks, the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan, declaring Operation Enduring Freedom as part of the war on terror. The US-led coalition forces toppled the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate and established the Islamic Republic. The Taliban and its allies were expelled from major population centres, but Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, relocated to neighbouring Pakistan.

The conflict officially ended with the 2021 Taliban offensive, which overthrew the Islamic Republic and re-established the Islamic Emirate. It was the longest war in US military history.

The Taliban's rise to power

The Taliban, a predominantly Pashtun, Islamic fundamentalist group, rose to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s following the withdrawal of Soviet troops, the collapse of Afghanistan’s communist regime, and the subsequent breakdown in civil order. The group was formed in the early 1990s by Afghan mujahideen, or Islamic guerrilla fighters, who had resisted the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and enjoyed popular support with its promise of security and its religious fervour.

• The downfall of the government the Soviets had left behind in Kabul
• Pashtun resentment that the regime replacing the government was dominated by non-Pashtuns
• Large-scale external assistance to the Taliban, especially from Pakistan
• Chronic divisions among the non-Pashtuns, including between and within ethnic groups
• Popular fatigue with the constant conflict following the Soviet departure
• Limited external assistance to non-Pashtun forces

The Taliban's first major military action was in October–November 1994 when they marched from Maiwand in southern Afghanistan to capture Kandahar City and the surrounding provinces. The group was based in the Helmand, Kandahar, and Uruzgan regions and they were overwhelmingly ethnic Pashtuns and predominantly Durrani Pashtuns.

The Taliban's initial aims were to end the political chaos that had been ongoing in Afghanistan since the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 and to impose a strict interpretation of Islam. They decreed amputations and executions for criminals, imposed severe restrictions on women, and banned television, considered a symbol of Western decadence.

The Taliban's efforts were initially embraced by the war-ravaged Afghans. But soon their promise to end the chaos of war and warlords resulted in the imposition of a strict interpretation of Islamic law. The Taliban's rise to power was also aided by the following factors:

• The Pakistani intelligence and security services
• Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
• Saudi-based charities, such as the International Islamic Relief Organization
• The Saudi Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice
• The Pakistani government
• The Pakistani intelligence and security services' rivalry with India

The Taliban's first regime fell in 2001 following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. The group then waged an insurgency against the US-backed Afghan government. The Taliban regrouped across the border in Pakistan and began taking back territory less than ten years after their ouster. By August 2021, the Taliban had swept back into power.

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan

The invasion toppled the Taliban, which had been in power since 1996. The Taliban was an ultraconservative political and religious faction that ruled Afghanistan and provided sanctuary for al-Qaeda, the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks.

The US-led forces were joined by the UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany. The invasion was the first phase of what would become the 20-year-long War in Afghanistan.

The invasion was marked by a series of swift victories. The Northern Alliance, an anti-Taliban coalition, worked with US ground and air forces to capture several key cities from the Taliban. The Taliban retreated, and by November, they had lost control of most of the country.

The fall of Kandahar, the Taliban's spiritual home, marked the end of Taliban power. The city was besieged by a force led by Hamid Karzai, a little-known tribal leader. Karzai was selected to lead the country on an interim basis at a UN-sponsored conference in Bonn, Germany.

The US-led coalition remained in Afghanistan, forming a security mission to create a new democratic authority in the country that would prevent the Taliban from returning to power.

The Northern Alliance

In September 2001, two men, commonly believed to be members of the Taliban or al-Qa’ida, posing as journalists, assassinated Massoud, causing the group to lose its strongest leader. Despite this setback, the Northern Alliance, with support from allies, was able to oust the Taliban from power in Kabul. Ultimately, the Northern Alliance was able to gain control over large parts of Afghanistan, allowing the front to play a crucial role in establishing the post-Taliban government of Hamid Karzai in late 2001 before disintegrating again in December of that same year.

In 2021, following the takeover of Kabul and much of Afghanistan by the Taliban, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, led by Ahmad Massoud, son of late Afghan politician Ahmad Shah Massoud, and Vice President Amrullah Saleh, started gathering strength in the Panjshir Valley. The flag of the Northern Alliance was hoisted for the first time since 2001 in the Panjshir Valley, signalling their return.

Al-Qaeda's role

Following the 9/11 attacks, the US demanded that the Taliban, who were then in control of Afghanistan, hand over Osama bin Laden. The Taliban refused, and so the US-led coalition invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, declaring Operation Enduring Freedom as part of the War on Terror. The initial strikes were against al-Qaeda training camps and Taliban military installations.

Al-Qaeda operatives had hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Close to 3,000 people died in the attacks. Although Afghanistan was the base for al-Qaeda, none of the 19 hijackers were Afghan nationals.

The US-led coalition quickly ousted the Taliban regime, and a new government was formed. However, many al-Qaeda leaders continued to hide out in the mountains of Afghanistan, and bin Laden himself escaped across the border to Pakistan.

In the years that followed, al-Qaeda continued to launch attacks, and the US continued its counter-terrorism operations. In 2011, US forces tracked bin Laden to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed him.

In 2021, the US announced its withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Taliban swiftly retook control of the country. The war in Afghanistan, which lasted 20 years, was the longest war in US history.

The war's aftermath

The War in Afghanistan ended with the Taliban regaining control of the country, and the US withdrawing its troops. The aftermath has been characterised by a marked change in the social and political order of Afghanistan, with the Taliban imposing strict laws and reversing any gains in liberal and democratic rights and freedoms over the last twenty years.

The US-trained and funded Afghan Army disintegrated, and the country was plunged into a humanitarian and economic crisis. Conflict has continued, with the Islamic State and a Republican insurgency against the Taliban.

The US has been criticised for its role in the war, and its failure to achieve its goals. The Biden administration has faced heavy criticism over the botched exit, and there have been calls for a public inquiry.

The Taliban's takeover has resulted in a regression of women's rights, with girls being barred from secondary schools, and women required to have a male-relative companion when travelling significant distances and to cover their faces in public. Music has been banned, and flogging, amputations, and mass executions have been reintroduced.

Afghans are suffering from cascading and compounding humanitarian crises and face the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations. In January 2022, the United Nations launched the largest single-country aid appeal in its history to finance humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan.

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has also been exacerbated by an economy on the verge of collapse and international isolation. Sanctions and the termination of significant development aid have crippled the Afghan economy. The revocation of the country's central bank's credentials halted all basic banking transactions and drastically restricted critical cash flow relied on by Afghan families for daily market activities.

The war in Afghanistan has also had a devastating impact on the mental health of Afghans, with two-thirds suffering from mental health problems, according to a 2009 report by the Afghan Ministry of Public Health.

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