IB History Soviet Withdrawal Civil War and Ethnic and Tribal Factionalism 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 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.