Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T21:50:27.035Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - The failure of an internationally sponsored interim government in Afghanistan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2012

Yossi Shain
Affiliation:
Tel-Aviv University
Juan J. Linz
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Barnett R. Rubin
Affiliation:
Columbia University
Get access

Summary

On the evening of March 18, 1992, President Najibullah of Afghanistan interrupted normal radio and television broadcasts with a dramatic speech. “I agree,” he announced, “that once an understanding is reached through the United Nations process for the establishment of an interim government in Kabul, all powers and executive authority will be transferred to the interim government as of the first day of the transition period.” By clearly announcing his intention to step aside, the former secret police chief who had headed the Soviet-backed regime since 1986 seemed to cleared the way for the implementation of a laboriously prepared international plan for resolving one of the last Cold War conflicts.

Less than a month later, President Najibullah was in hiding in the UN's office in Kabul. Rebels in his own military and party had allied with Islamic resistance fighters (mujahidin) to overthrow him during the night of April 15–16. Najibullah's Watan (Homeland) Party split on ethnic lines, with different factions allying with their coethnics among the mujahidin. The leading resistance commander, Ahmad Shah Massoud, spokesman for the alliance that overthrew Najibullah, told Benon Sevan, the UN Secretary General's representative for Afghanistan, that the now victorious mujahidin would form a provisional government themselves.

Before the end of April, fighting erupted in the streets of Kabul as guerrillas belonging to rival parties, factions, and ethnic groups battled for power. Tribal and ethnic coalitions took over the major regional garrisons.

Type
Chapter
Information
Between States
Interim Governments in Democratic Transitions
, pp. 211 - 236
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×