The Afghan mujahidin 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.

This unrest quickly escalated into a second civil war, which saw the large-scale collapse of the united Afghan mujahidin and the victorious emergence of the Taliban, which established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan shortly after taking most of the country in 1996.

[14][15] Groups of resistance formed in parts of eastern Afghanistan by the fall of 1978, but it was in early 1979 that the situation rapidly escalated to open rebellion.

[16] The conflict reached a height during the Herat mutiny in March, in which a non-organized group of Afghan army mutineers from the 17th Division and the civilians rebelled and briefly overthrew the city garrison.

He created an organization named the Afghan National Liberation Front (Jabha-i Nejat-i Milli) and on May 25, 1979, appealed for support in New York City.

[17] Sayyed Ahmad Gailani, a spiritual leader (pir), also created a resistance organization during this time, called National Islamic Front (Mahaz-e-Millie-Islami).

Mawlawi Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi, a religious scholar and former member of parliament in the Kingdom, formed the Revolutionary Islamic Movement (Harakat-e-Inqilab-e-Islami); he was well known for assaulting prominent leftist Babrak Karmal inside the House of Representatives in 1966.

[19] A broad mujahidin had existed as a de facto political bloc since May 1979, when the Pakistani government decided to limit the flow of financial aid to the said seven organizations, thus cutting off monetary supply to nationalist and left-wing resistance groups.

They, including tribal and community elders, former members of parliament and mujahidin commanders, met in several loya jirgas (traditional grand assembly) to solidify the resistance, liberate Afghanistan from the Soviet Union, topple the Kabul regime, and create a single political bloc.

The last round of the jirga in May 1980 set up the Islamic National Revolutionary Council, headed by Mohammad Omar Babrakzay as acting president.

[18] Because of disunity, elders from western Afghanistan attempted to hold a loya jirga, citing that party politics disunited the resisting Afghans.

Political Islamists warned against people attending the jirga, but it was held safely in September 1981 in Pishin, Pakistan, consisting of tribal elders, the Ulama, and military officers.

Dutch journalist Jere Van Dyk reported in 1981 that the guerillas were effectively fighting two civil wars: one against the regime and the Soviets, and another among themselves.

[18] Numerous mujahideen commanders additionally regarded schools and its teachers as legitimate targets for attacks, with their justification being that the PDPA’s leftist ideology was taught in educational institutions to students.

[32] In an attempt to dissuade infighting and develop a de facto functioning proto state, Ahmad Shah Massoud created the Shura-e Nazar in 1984, an offshoot of the Jamiat faction.

Shura-e Nazar was created as a military–political combination and consisted of an organized structure dealing with health and education in the areas it operated in (northern and north-eastern Afghanistan).

He eventually decided to go at the Kabul regime in a very different way: a coalition with Khalq communists of General Shahnawaz Tanai, which caused many resignations in his party in protest.

Majid Kalakani, a prominent figure and leader of the Liberation Organization of the People of Afghanistan (SAMA), was executed by the Afghan regime in June 1980.

[21] Smaller mujahidin groups not connected to the main seven parties include the Sharafat Kuh Front in Farah Province and Harakat-e-Mulavi.

With the exception of parts of the north near the Soviet border (under Abdul Rashid Dostum's command), along with several cities, mujahidin guerillas were in control of most of the country as of 1987.

As Soviet forces withdrew in 1988–89, the Mujahidin captured several key districts, towns and provincial capitals, such as Taloqan, Mahmud Raqi, Asadabad, Bamyan, Spin Boldak, Dara-i-Suf and Imam Sahib.

The cities of Kunduz, Qalat, and Maidan Shahr also fell to the Mujahidin in the summer of 1988, but were retaken by the government with Soviet bombardment and logistical support.

By the time Soviet forces completed their withdrawal, the Afghan government held only sixty urban centers and the Mujahidin controlled six entire provinces.

The Afghan Army beat back the Mujahidin's attempts to take the city of Jalalabad in March 1989, and the civil war settled into a stalemate for three years.

[51] There is one recorded female mujahidin warlord, Bibi Ayesha (nicknamed Kaftar, meaning "dove"), who operated in Baghlan Province.

The government concentrated its forces in defense of key cities, while relying on vast amounts of military and humanitarian aid from the Soviet Union to stay afloat.

The Afghan Air Force, supplied and maintained with Soviet support, proved to be a crucial asset in keeping the government in power.

[60] After Najibullah's government collapsed, the Mujahidin factions (apart from Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin) signed a power sharing agreement (the Peshawar Accord) and captured Kabul on April 28, 1992, celebrating their "Victory Day".

This meant that after 1992, various Mujahidin factions including the Shi'ite Hezb-i Wahdat continued to exist as militias rather than merely political parties, with many fighters being loyal to specific leaders.

Supported by Pakistan and recruited from religious students from madrasas across the border, it won a highly effective military campaign against former Mujahidin factions in the civil war, gaining control and establishing the Islamic Emirate in 1996.