Northern Alliance
The Northern Alliance (Persian: ائتلاف شمال E'tilāf Šumāl or اتحاد شمال Ettehād Šumāl), officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (Persian: جبهه متحد اسلامی ملی برای نجات افغانستان Jabha Muttahid Islāmī Millī barāyi Najāt Afğānistān), was a military alliance of groups that operated between early 1992 and 2001 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many non-Pashtun Northerners originally with the Republic of Afghanistan led by Mohammad Najibullah became disaffected with Pashtun Khalqi Afghan Army officers holding control over non-Pashtun militias in the North. Defectors such as Rashid Dostum and Abdul Momim allied with Ahmad Shah Massoud and Ali Mazari forming the Northern Alliance. The alliance's capture of Mazar-i-Sharif and more importantly the supplies kept there crippled the Afghan military and began the end of Najibullah's government. Following the collapse of Najibullah's government the Alliance would fall with a 2nd Civil war breaking out however following the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan's (Taliban) takeover of Kabul, The United Front was reassembled.
| United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan | |
|---|---|
Top: The Flag flown by the United Islamic Front Bottom: Maximum territorial control of the Northern Alliance (blue) against that of the Taliban (red) in Afghanistan in 1996 | |
| Leaders | Burhanuddin Rabbani Abdullah Abdullah Ahmad Shah Massoud Mohammed Fahim Abdul Rashid Dostum Haji Abdul Qadeer Muhammad Mohaqiq Karim Khalili |
| Dates of operation | January 1992 – December 2001 |
| Headquarters | Taloqan, Afghanistan (until September 2000) Fayzabad, Afghanistan (September 2000–November 2001) |
| Active regions | Afghanistan |
| Ideology | Anti-Taliban Anti-Terrorism Anti-Al-Qaeda Islamic democracy |
| Size | 80,000 (1997), 50,000 (2001) |
| Allies | State allies:
Non-state allies: |
| Opponents | State opponents:
Non-state opponents: |
| Battles and wars | the War in Afghanistan and the Global War on Terrorism |
The Northern Alliance fought a defensive war against the Taliban regime. They received support from India, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the United States and Uzbekistan, while the Taliban were extensively backed by the Pakistan Army and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. By 2001, the Northern Alliance controlled less than 10% of the country, cornered in the north-east and based in Badakhshan province. The US invaded Afghanistan, providing support to Northern Alliance troops on the ground in a two-month war against the Taliban, which they won in December 2001. With the Taliban forced from control of the country, the Northern Alliance was dissolved as members and parties supported the new Afghan Interim Administration, with some members later becoming part of the Karzai administration.
Amidst the Fall of Kabul in 2021, former Northern Alliance leaders and other anti-Taliban figures regrouped as the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan.