IB History Impact of the Conflict in Afghanistan Key Definitions

The collapse of the Soviet-backed government of Mohammad Najibullah in April 1992, when mujahideen factions captured Kabul following the defection of Uzbek militia commander Abdul Rashid Dostum. Najibullah had held power for three years after the Soviet withdrawal by exploiting factional divisions and maintaining a degree of Soviet financial support, which ended when the USSR dissolved in December 1991. His fall plunged Afghanistan into civil war as mujahideen factions fought each other for control of the country.

The Geneva Accords of April 1988 were agreements between Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States, and the Soviet Union that set the terms for Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. They included a timetable for the withdrawal of Soviet forces, to be completed by February 1989. The accords did not end the civil war in Afghanistan, as neither the Mujahideen nor the Afghan communist government signed them, and fighting continued after the Soviet withdrawal.

An estimated 10 million landmines were laid across Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan War and subsequent civil war, making it one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. The UN estimated that by the early 1990s, mines were killing or maiming an average of 150–300 Afghans per month. Landmine clearance programs began in the late 1980s but the problem remained a major humanitarian issue decades after the conflict ended.

Mohammad Najibullah was the last Soviet-backed leader of Afghanistan, serving as General Secretary and then President from 1986 to 1992. After Soviet troops withdrew in 1989, his government survived longer than most analysts predicted, but collapsed in April 1992 when mujahideen factions captured Kabul. Najibullah took refuge in a UN compound in Kabul, where he remained until the Taliban seized the city in 1996 and publicly executed him.

An agreement signed in April 1992 between the main mujahideen factions, intended to establish a transitional government in Afghanistan after the fall of Najibullah. The accords established a rotating presidency among faction leaders. They immediately broke down as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami refused to participate and began shelling Kabul, triggering the civil war that destroyed much of the capital and killed tens of thousands of civilians between 1992 and 1996.

Sharia is the body of Islamic religious law derived from the Quran and the Hadith (the recorded sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad). Its application varies widely across Muslim-majority societies. The Taliban imposed an extreme and contested interpretation in Afghanistan (1996-2001 and from 2021), including restrictions on women's education and public life, prohibition of music and television, and corporal punishment for criminal offences.

The Taliban is a Sunni Islamist political and military movement that emerged from Afghan Mujahideen factions in the early 1990s. Predominantly Pashtun, it was based in Kandahar and drew recruits from Pakistani madrasas. The Taliban captured Kabul in September 1996 and controlled most of Afghanistan by 1998, enforcing an extreme interpretation of Sharia Law. They were ousted from power by a US-led coalition after the September 2001 attacks on the United States but regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021.

The Taliban emerged from the Kandahar region of southern Afghanistan in 1994, founded by Mullah Omar. Composed largely of Pashtun fighters trained in Pakistani madrassas, they exploited the chaos of the Afghan Civil War (1992–1996) by presenting themselves as restorers of order and Islamic law. They captured Kabul in September 1996 and controlled roughly 90% of Afghanistan by 2001, imposing a harsh interpretation of sharia law and providing sanctuary to al-Qaeda.