Afghan Civil war (1989-1994)
Najibullah’s government was isolated and relatively weak diplomatically on the international scene without Soviet aid, especially after the collapse of its former ally in 1991. The mujahedeen groups, moderate or fundamentalist, who were not invited to the negotiation table during the Geneva Accords, continued to defy the government and resume their armed struggle by end of the Soviet withdrawal in 1989. Even without direct Soviet military aid, the Najibullah government possessed a vast arsenal of Soviet military vehicles, SCUD missiles and infantry weapons, and was able to resist and secure victory against Pakistani-supported Afghan and Arab Mujahedeen attacks at Jalalabad in May 1989. (Goodson, 2012, p.70) Some of these forces would also attack other rebels such as the forces of Ahmad Shah Massoud.
By 1992, however, the regime began to collapse in part because of the ending of Russian fuel shipments to the regime and mostly because of mass desertions, and he resigned in March. The Peshawar Accords in April created an interim government, known as the Islamic State of Afghanistan, respected by most of the mujahedeen. Pakistan did not like this turn of events and decided to install their own rebel group to power, the Islamist Hezb-i Islami, which began to invade Kabul but was beaten back in May. The group would later go on to shell Kabul for months. The chaos that ensued set the stage for many battle in Kabul between numerous rival factions as well as Massoud’s government forces that would last for two years and leave thousands of civilians dead in the crossfire. (Goodson, 2012, p.74)