Hekmatyar’s commanders. Their objective was to undermine the
symbolic authority of the Rabbani government by highlighting its
inability to protect civilians in its own capital. Massoud, plainly,
had no interest in doing any such thing.
The division of Kabul between militias
While forces under Massoud’s authority had effectively ejected the
Hezb-e Islamifrom Kabul in the days before Mojadiddi’s arrival
on 28 April, this did not mean that all the forces which had entered
Kabul at the time were exclusively loyal to Massoud. Indeed, the
opposite was the case. A range of forces found their way into the
capital, and their loyalties shifted in accordance with changing
incentive structures. The key forces were those loyal to Massoud’s
Shura-i Nazar; to Sayyaf’s Ittehad-e Islami; to Dostam’s Jumbesh-
e Melli Islami(‘National Islamic Movement’); and to the Hezb-e
Wahdat, led by Abdul Ali Mazari. The two former parties were
ideologically committed to a strong state. By contrast, the Hezb-e
Wahdatfeared a strong state would weaken the relative autonomy
of the Hazaras, while the Jumbeshrepresented Dostam’s aspiration
to control an autonomous fiefdom in the north: each had an inter-
est in blocking the development of a strong state. The greatest
antagonism was between the Hezb-e Wahdatand the Ittehad: apart
from different conceptions of the state, Wahdatwas an Iran-backed
Shiite party, whereas Ittehadwas a Saudi-supported Sunni party,
bitterly hostile both to Shiism and to Iranian influence. It was
between these two that fighting within the city initially broke out,
on 2 June 1992 (Harpviken, 1996: 113). Hezb-e Wahdatforces
occupied west Kabul; Massoud’s the north; Dostam’s the area
around the Bala Hissar fortress and Teppe Meranjan; and Sayyaf’s
the Paghman area.
In January–February 1993, the relations between Massoud and
Hezb-e Wahdatreached a critical point. In the hope of promoting a
state monopoly on the means of violence, Massoud had moved to
disarm the Hezb-e Wahdat militia in December 1992. Hezb-e
Wahdatresponded by denouncing the Shura-i Ahl-e Hal va Aqd, in
202 The Afghanistan Wars