1990 in Afghanistan

1990
in
Afghanistan

Decades:
See also:Other events of 1990
List of years in Afghanistan

The following lists events that happened during 1990 in Afghanistan.

Fierce fighting flares anew at the beginning of the year between government troops and the mujaheddin guerrillas, but by winter no military victory is in sight for either side. In the face of an extended stalemate and in a bid to end the 12-year-old war, Washington and Moscow agree that elections should be held to decide the political future of the country. Neither superpower can agree on what role Najibullah would play in the interim government, however. Washington insists he relinquish control over the military and intelligence, a demand that Najibullah and Moscow reject. Nevertheless, the president is willing to relinquish control of the state media and a limited number of troops to an interim commission if new elections are held. Since their withdrawal after a nine-year intervention, the Soviets have sent an estimated $500 million in weapons and supplies to Kabul every month. The U.S. have funneled $300 million in aid to the Muslim resistance through Pakistan, but Washington lobbies for reduced aid to fundamentalist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, considered the most anti-Western of all the seven resistance leaders, after numerous reports blamed him for brutal infighting that killed scores of Afghan civilians and guerrilla fighters. Pakistan's Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto also seeks a reduced role for the rebel leader, contradicting the Pakistani military's policy of favouring Hekmatyar for most of the civil war. But arms shipments to Hekmatyar reportedly rise dramatically after Bhutto is ousted August 6 and replaced by right-wing opponents. Renewed arms shipments coincide with escalating rocket attacks on Kabul in the first two weeks of October that kill at least 60 people and injure scores of others.