Abdul Rashid Dostum is an Afghan politician, former Marshal in the Afghan National Army, founder and leader of the political party Junbish-e Milli. Dostum was a major army commander in the communist government during the Soviet–Afghan War, and in 2001 was the key indigenous ally to US Special Forces and the CIA during the campaign to topple the Taliban government. He is one of the most powerful and notorious warlords since the beginning of the Afghan wars, known for siding with winners during different wars.
Mazār-i-Sharīf, also called Mazār-e Sharīf, or just Mazār, is the fourth-largest city of Afghanistan, with a population estimate of 594,551 people. It is the capital of Balkh province and is linked by highways with Kunduz in the east, Kabul in the southeast, Herat in the southwest and Termez, Uzbekistan in the north. It is about 55 km (34 mi) from the Uzbek border. The city is also a tourist attraction because of its famous shrines as well as the Islamic and Hellenistic archeological sites. The ancient city of Balkh is also nearby.
The Afghan Army is the land warfare branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when the Hotak dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by Ahmad Shah Durrani's rise to power. It was reorganized in 1880 during Emir Abdur Rahman Khan's reign. Afghanistan remained neutral during the First and Second World Wars. From the 1960s to the early 1990s, the Afghan Army was equipped by the Soviet Union.
Kunduz is a city in northern Afghanistan, the capital of Kunduz Province. The city has an estimated population of about 268,893 as of 2015, making it about the 7th-largest city of Afghanistan, and the largest city in northeastern Afghanistan. Kunduz is in the historical Tokharistan region of Bactria, near the confluence of the Kunduz River with the Khanabad River. Kunduz is linked by highways with Kabul to the south, Mazar-i-Sharif to the west, and Badakhshan to the east. Kunduz is also linked with Dushanbe in Tajikistan to the north, via the Afghan dry port of Sherkhan Bandar.
Atta Muhammad Nur is an Afghan exiled politician and former militant who served as the Governor of Balkh Province in Afghanistan from 2004 to January 25, 2018. An ethnic Tajik, he worked to educate the Mujahideen after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, gaining the nickname "The Teacher". He then became a mujahideen resistance commander for the Jamiat-e Islami against the Soviets.
The 1996–2001 Afghan Civil War took place between the Taliban's conquest of Kabul and their establishing of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on 27 September 1996, and the US and UK invasion of Afghanistan on 7 October 2001: a period that was part of the Afghan Civil War that had started in 1989, and also part of the war in Afghanistan that had started in 1978.
Kunduz Airport is a public and military airport located 5 miles (8 km) south-southeast of Kunduz, a city in Kunduz Province in Afghanistan. It is also 9 miles (14 km) west of Khan Abad, 25 miles (40 km) south of the Oxus River, and 33 miles (53 km) south of the Tajikistan border.
Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport, also known as Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī International Airport, is located 9 km east of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, a 15-minute drive from the center of the city. Though it was originally constructed with 2 parallel runways, the northernmost runway has since been converted into a Taxiway. The remaining runway is 9,836 feet. The airport has facilities for up to 1,000 passengers, making it one of the largest airports in Afghanistan.
The fall of Mazar-i-Sharif in November 2001 resulted from the first major offensive of the Afghanistan War after American intervention. A push into the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh Province by the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan, combined with U.S. Army Special Forces aerial bombardment, resulted in the withdrawal of Taliban forces who had held the city since 1998. After the fall of outlying villages, and an intensive bombardment, the Taliban and al-Qaeda forces withdrew from the city. Several hundred pro-Taliban fighters were killed. Approximately 500 were captured, and approximately 1,000 reportedly defected. The capture of Mazar-i-Sharif was the first major defeat for the Taliban.
The Afghan National Army Commando Corps was a commando force of the Afghan National Army (ANA). During the Taliban insurgency, the commandos comprised 7% of the Afghan National Security Forces but conducted 70% to 80% of the fighting. The unit structure was based on the 75th Ranger Regiment.
The Battles of Mazar-i-Sharif were a part of the Afghan Civil War and took place in 1997 and 1998 between the forces of Abdul Malik Pahlawan and his Hazara allies, Junbish-e Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan, and the Taliban.
Events in the year 2017 in Afghanistan.
On 21 April 2017, at least ten Taliban fighters attacked Camp Shaheen, headquarters of the 209th Corps of the Afghan National Army (ANA), near Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh Province. The death toll was unclear—official Afghan government statements said about 140 people were killed and 160 injured, while media reports said as many as 256 were dead. The attack was the deadliest on an Afghan military base since the beginning of the war.
The Islamic State–Taliban conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between the Islamic State and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The conflict escalated when militants who were affiliated with the Islamic State killed Abdul Ghani, a senior Taliban commander in Logar province on 2 February 2015. Since then, Taliban and the Islamic State have engaged in clashes over the control of territory, mostly in eastern Afghanistan, but clashes have also occurred between the Taliban and the Islamic State's cells which are located in the north-west and south-west.
2021 (MMXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2021st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 21st year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 2nd year of the 2020s decade.
The 2021 Taliban offensive, also known as the summer offensive, was a military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and other allied militants against the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan that led to the fall of the republic based in Kabul and marked the end of the nearly 20-year-old War in Afghanistan, that had begun following the United States invasion of the country.
The Battle of Kandahar began on 9 July 2021, as Taliban insurgents assaulted the city to capture it from the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). After heavy fighting for weeks the city's defenses had started to dissolve in August. This allowed the Taliban to enter and overrun most of the city on 12 August 2021, including the Sarposa prison, which included the release of over 1,000 prisoners, and ultimately the capture of the city. However, the siege for the nearby airport continued, where government loyalists held out until being evacuated on 16 August.
The Battle of Kunduz was a battle between the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and the Taliban for control of the city of Kunduz. The fighting started in late June and lasted until the city was overrun by the Taliban on 8 August. The Afghan government forces, defending the city, withdrew to 217 Pamir Corps headquarters and airport within in the city. After resisting for three days, an entire 217 Pamir Corps had surrendered, allowing Taliban to take control of the airport and a number of military vehicles and tanks stationed inside the headquarters.
On 21 April 2022, a powerful bomb rocked the Shia Seh Dokan mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh Province, Afghanistan killing at least 31 people and injuring more than 87 others. The Islamic State – Khorasan Province claimed responsibility via Telegram.
Afghanistan 
Afghan National Army 
