Northern Alliance - Commanders and Factions

Commanders and Factions

The United Front was formed in late 1996 as a resistance force against the Taliban government by opposition factions. Since early 1999, Ahmad Shah Massoud was the only main leader able to defend his territory against the Taliban and as such remained as the main de facto political and military leader of the United Front recognized by members of all the different ethnic groups. Massoud decided on the main political line and the general military strategy of the alliance. A part of the United Front military factions such as Junbish-i Milli or Hezb-e Wahdat, however, did not fall under the direct control of Massoud but remained under their respective regional or ethnic leaders.

Military commanders of the United Front were either independent or belonged to one of the following political parties:

• the Sunni Tajik-dominated Jamiat-e Islami led by Ahmad Shah Massoud and Burhanuddin Rabbani
• the Sunni Uzbek-dominated Junbish-i Milli led by Abdul Rashid Dostum
• the Sunni Pashtun-dominated Eastern Shura led by Abdul Qadir
• the Shia Tajik and Hazara-dominated Harakat-e Islami led by Sayed Hussain Anwari
• the Shia Hazara-dominated Hezb-e Wahdat led by Mohammad Mohaqiq and Karim Khalili

Military commanders and subcommanders of the United Front included:

• From northern Afghanistan: Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, Atta Mohammad Noor, Mohammad Daud Daud, Mohammad Fahim, Gul Haider, Mohammad Mohaqiq, Rashid Dostum, Qazi Kabir Marzban;
• From eastern Afghanistan: Abdul Qadir, Hazrat Ali, Jaan Daad Khan, Abdullah Wahedi, Qatrah and Najmuddin;
• From southern Afghanistan: Qari Baba, Aref Noorzai and Hotak;
• From western Afghanistan: Ismail Khan, Doctor Ibrahim, and Fazlkarim Aimaq;
• From central Afghanistan: Hussain Anwari, Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, Said Hussein Aalemi Balkhi, Akbari, Mohammad Ali Jawed, Karim Khaili and Sher Alam.

The two main political candidates in the Afghan Presidential Elections of 2009 both worked for the United Front:

• Abdullah Abdullah (was a close friend of Ahmad Shah Massoud and the foreign minister of the alliance)
• Hamid Karzai (his father was killed by the Taliban, he subsequently went on a diplomatic mission to gather support for Massoud in Europe and the U.S. in 2000/2001)