afghanistanthe posts the Hazaras opened fire, killing and wounding hundreds of
Taliban. Mas‘ud then overran Hizb-i Wahdat positions, during which his
Panjshiris went on an orgy of killing, pillage and rape, and pushed the
Taliban out of Chahar Asiyab. The Taliban responded with a sustained
rocket attack on the capital, which caused hundreds more civilian deaths
and yet more destruction. The unfortunate Mazari was captured by the
Taliban, tortured, subjected to public humiliation and finally thrown alive
from a helicopter – though the Taliban claimed he fell. His body was even-
tually handed over and buried in his home town of Mazar-i Sharif, where
his mausoleum quickly became a major Shi‘a shrine. Following Mazari’s
death, Hizb-i Wahdat split into three rival factions, with the party led by
Sayyid Akbari, a Kabuli Qizilbash, joining forces with the Taliban.
Encouraged by Mas‘ud’s success, in the autumn of 1995 Isma‘il Khan
in Herat launched an offensive against Taliban positions on the Helmand,
only for his campaign to turn into a chaotic rout. On 5 September 1995
the Taliban entered Herat almost unopposed. As for Isma‘il Khan, he fled
to Iran. When news of the fall of Herat broke in Kabul, a mob of around
5,000 Jami‘at supporters burnt and looted the Pakistan embassy, which
had recently relocated to the former mansion of the British Legation. By
the time the mob had finished, Lord Curzon’s grand, neoclassical edifice,
designed as a statement of British wealth, power and imperial prestige, had
been reduced to a blackened shell. The Taliban then went on the offen-
sive, retaking Chahar Asiyab, overrunning Khak-i Jabbar and attacking
But Khak on the outskirts of Kabul. A second Taliban column occupied
the Rishkhor army base in southwest Kabul. After bitter fighting, Mas‘ud
eventually pushed the Taliban back, but not far enough to prevent yet
another barrage of rockets descending on the already war-battered capital.
In the spring of 1996, with Afghanistan effectively partitioned into
three rival governments, Mullah ‘Omar sought to legitimize his position
as head of not just the Taliban but of Afghanistan by calling a shura in
Kandahar, which was attended by thousands of ‘ulama’ and Talibs from
both sides of the Durand Line. Following two weeks of debate, the assembly
endorsed the continuation of the Taliban’s jihad, silencing in the process
more moderate voices in the movement who called for an end to the
civil war and negotiations for a power-sharing agreement with Jami‘at.
The assembly then proclaimed Mullah ‘Omar as Amir al-Mu’minin of
the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. To reinforce his spiritual legitimacy,
Amir ‘Omar appeared before the assembly wrapped in the Khirqa Sharif,
an action that for many of his ardent followers confirmed his mystical
status. Some Taliban, though, regarded ‘Omar’s action as a presumption