Afshar Operation

Afshar Operation
Part of the Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)
Date February 11–12, 1993 Location Kabul, Afghanistan Result Islamic State and allies victory Capture of Hezb-i Wahdat's positions and headquarters Ending of violence by the Islamabad Accord between the Islamic State and Hekmatyar's forces
Belligerents
Afghanistan Ittehad-e Islami Supported by: Saudi Arabia	Hezb-e Islami Supported by: Pakistan Iran Hezb-e Wahdat
Commanders and leaders
Ahmad Shah Massoud Burhanuddin Rabbani Anwar Dangar Sayed Hussein Anwari Mohammed Fahim Abdul Rasul Sayyaf Mullah Ezat	Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Abdul Ali Mazari Commander Shafi Hazara
Casualties and losses
Minor damages	2000-6000 Deaths Up to 500 massacred (Including Woman and Children) several women raped by soldiers High Ranking Commandos killed Mazari makes narrow escape

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The Afshar Operation was a military operation in Afghanistan that took place on February 11–12, 1993 during the Afghan Civil War (1992-96). The operation was launched by Ahmad Shah Massoud and Burhanuddin Rabbani's Islamic State of Afghanistan government and the allied Abdul Rasul Sayyaf's Ittehad-i Islami paramilitary forces against Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezbe Islami and Abdul Ali Mazari's Hezbe Wahdat militias in the densely populated, Qizilbash-majority, Afshar district in west Kabul. The Hazara-Hezbe Wahdat together with the Pashtun-Hezbe Islami of Hekmatyar had been shelling densely populated areas in northern Kabul from their positions in Afshar, killing thousands. To counter the shelling, government forces attacked Afshar in order to capture the positions of Wahdat and its leader Mazari, and to consolidate parts of the city controlled by the government.

The operation became an urban war zone and escalated into what is called the Afshar massacre when Sayyaf's Ittehad-i Islami forces and Massoud's Jamaat-e-Islami forces committed "repeated human butchery"^[1] turning against the Shia Muslims.^[2] Reports emerged that Sayyaf's Sunni Wahhabist forces backed by Saudi Arabia rampaged through Afshar, murdering and burning homes.^[3][4] Both the Hezb-e Wahdat and the Ittihad-i Islami had been involved in systematic abduction campaigns against civilians of the "opposite side", a pattern Ittihad continued in Afshar. Besides Ittihad commanders, two of the nine government commanders on the ground, Anwar Dangar (who later defected to the Taliban) and Mullah Izzat, were also named as leading troops that carried out abuses. Reports describe looting, indiscriminate shelling by Sayyaf's men and massacring of thousands of civilians from Hazara ethnic group. In one instance fleeing civilians in the streets were hit by fire from government soldiers. At the same time it was reported that in another incidence government troops carried a wounded Afshar civilian to safety and that some commanders on the ground tried to stop abuses from taking place.^{[citation needed]}

The Islamic State's Defense Minister Ahmad Shah Massoud ordered an immediate halt to the crimes on the second day of the operation, but especially looting and the destruction of houses continued to take place for a second day. Massoud then appointed a Shia commander, Hussain Anwari, to ensure the safety of the Shia civilian population in Afshar. However Anwari himself became infamous for terrorizing Pashtun civilians, who were also raped and assaulted.

He also ordered the withdrawal of all offensive troops and persuaded Sayyaf to do the same. The Islamic State government in collaboration with the then enemy militia of Hezb-e Wahdat as well as in cooperation with Afshar civilians established a commission to investigate the crimes that had taken place in Afshar. The commission paid ransoms for approximately 80 to 200 people held by several Ittihad commanders. But 700-750 people abducted by Ittihad during the campaign were never returned however were later found to be alive and let go off randomly. About 20 were killed.^[4] The same commission received information that many women were abducted during the operation, but said that few families would report it.^[2] The Afshar operation proceeded with Massoud's approval, although he disapproved of Sayyaf's methods.

The Afshar operation, which saw hundreds of Sunni Pashtuns and Shia Hazaras systemically targeted and depopulated from villages in the area, was the first such sectarian oriented incident in Afghanistan's modern history. It is also considered to have been one of the worst single events in Afghanistan's wars.^[5]