Various Salafist states appeared during the Soviet-Afghan war and following period of civil war breaking away from the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The Salafist ideology was disseminated in Afghanistan by Saudi supporters of the Afghan resistance, who required ideological conformity from the Afghans in exchange for aid. [1] These states would often come under attack not just from the Soviets and the DRA but also by other Mujahedeen factions who were opposed to Saudi influence such as Hezbi Islami Gulbuddin. [2]
Several prominent men among the Salafist converts returned to Afghanistan and formed small localized states with fellow Afghan Salafists, often again with the aid of foreign backers.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is an Afghan politician, former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so called after Mohammad Yunus Khalis split from Hezbi Islami in 1979 to found Hezb-i Islami Khalis. He has twice served as Prime Minister during the 1990s.
Nuristan, also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven districts and is Afghanistan's least populous province, with a population of around 167,000. Parun serves as the provincial capital. Nuristan is bordered on the south by Laghman and Kunar provinces, on the north by Badakhshan province, on the west by Panjshir province.
The Islamic Dawah Organization of Afghanistan is a political party in Afghanistan led by Abdul Rasul Sayyaf. Founded in the early 1980s as the Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan, it was originally an attempt to bring unity amongst Islamist opposition forces in Afghanistan. However, the creation of the new umbrella organization effectively created a split and the organization became a political party of its own. The organization was part of the 'Peshawar Seven', the coalition of mujahedin forces supported by the United States, Pakistan and various Arab states of the Persian Gulf in the war against the PDPA government, Soviet forces and Ba'athist Iraq. Through the financial aid received from Saudi sources, the organization was able to attract a considerable military following. Arab volunteers fought in the militia forces of the organisation.
Kunar is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital is Asadabad. Its population is estimated to be 508,224. Kunar's major political groups include Wahhabis or Ahl-e- Hadith, Nazhat-e Hambastagi Milli, Hezb-e Afghanistan Naween, Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin.
Jamayat-E-Islami, sometimes shortened to Jamiat, is a predominantly Tajik political party in Afghanistan. It was originally formed as a student political society at Kabul University. It has a communitarian ideology based on Islamic law. During the Soviet–Afghan War and the following Afghan Civil War against the communist government, Jamiat-e Islami was one of the most powerful of the Afghan mujahideen groups. Burhanuddin Rabbani led the party from 1968 to 2011, and served as President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan from 1992 to 2001, on exile from 1996.
Mawlawi Mohammad Yunus Khalis was a mujahideen commander in Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War. His party was called Hezb-i-Islami, the same as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's party. The two are commonly differentiated as Hezb-e Islami Khalis and Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin.
The Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, also referred to as Hezb-e-Islami or Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), is an Afghan political party and former paramilitary organization, originally founded in 1976 as Hezb-e-Islami and led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In 1979, Mulavi Younas Khalis split with Hekmatyar and established his own group, which became known as Hezb-i Islami Khalis; the remaining part of Hezb-e Islami, still headed by Hekmatyar, became known as Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin. Hezbi Islami seeks to emulate the Muslim Brotherhood and to replace the various tribal factions of Afghanistan with one unified Islamic state. This puts them at odds with the more tribe-oriented Taliban.
The 1989–1992 Afghan Civil War took place between the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan on 15 February 1989 until 27 April 1992, ending the day after the proclamation of the Peshawar Accords proclaiming a new interim Afghan government which was supposed to start serving on 28 April 1992.
The 1992–1996 Afghan Civil War took place between 28 April 1992—the date a new interim Afghan government was supposed to replace the Republic of Afghanistan of President Mohammad Najibullah—and the Taliban's conquest of Kabul establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on 27 September 1996.
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.
Jamaat al-Dawah ila al-Quran wal-Sunnah, abbreviated as JDQS, also known as The Salafi Group, is a militant Islamist organisation operating in eastern Afghanistan.
The Afghan mujahideen were various armed Islamist rebel groups that fought against the government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent First Afghan Civil War. The term mujahideen is used in a religious context by Muslims to refer to those engaged in a struggle of any nature for the sake of Islam, commonly referred to as jihad (جهاد). The Afghan mujahideen consisted of numerous groups that differed from each other across ethnic and/or ideological lines, but were united by their anti-communist and pro-Islamic goals. The union was also widely referred to by their Western backers as the Afghan resistance, while Western press often referred to them as Muslim rebels, guerrillas, or "Mountain Men". They were popularly referred to by Soviet troops as dukhi as derivation from Dari word دشمان dushman, which turned into short dukh and also was suitable due to their guerrilla tactics; Afghan civilians often referred to them as the tanzim, while the Afghan government called them dushman, a term also employed by the Soviets.
Ahmad Shah was an Afghan from the Kunar Province of Afghanistan who commanded a group of fighters operating in eastern Afghanistan and was linked to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
The Landai Sin Valley, or the Bashgal Valley, is a geographical feature of Nuristan Province, eastern Afghanistan, formed by the Landai Sin River which empties into the Kunar River at Barikot, Kamdesh District in Nuristan, Afghanistan. The largest town in the valley is Kamdesh. The lower Bashgal Valley is inhabited by the Kom people.
The Islamic Revolutionary State of Afghanistan was a small Salafist Islamic state located in the north of Bashgal Valley, Nuristan Province. It was founded by Mawlawi Afzal during the nationwide Afghan mujahideen insurgency against the Soviet-backed People's Republic of Afghanistan and established consulates in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Mawlawi Muhammad Hussain also known as Jamil al-Rahman al-Afghani was the founder and leader of Jamaat al-Dawah ila al-Quran wal-Sunnah, a Salafist organisation located in Kunar Province of Afghanistan. He was also the Emir of the short-lived Islamic Emirate of Kunar.
Gholam Mohammad Niazi, was a leading professor at Kabul University, member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the founder of the Islamic movement in Afghanistan. In 1974 he was jailed for promoting the Islamist regime and was killed in jail in 1979.
The Islamic Emirate of Kunar was a short-lived unrecognized Salafi quasi-state in Kunar Province, which was led by Jamil al-Rahman and established by his group, Jamaat al-Dawah ila al-Quran wal-Sunnah. The Islamic Emirate of Kunar was the first modern Islamic state, and it had captured the attention of many Salafis from Arab nations, who ended up either sending money or coming to Afghanistan to join them.
The Islamic Emirate of Badakhshan was an unrecognized Islamic state ruled by Sharia law in modern day Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan.