corps
Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...
(a
military formation
Military organization or military organisation is the structuring of the armed forces of a State (polity), state so as to offer such military capability as a military policy, national defense policy may require. In some countries paramilitary ...
) of the
Afghan Army
The Army of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (), also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be tr ...
, seemingly active from 1990 to around 2003–2004. Created as a military formation of the PDPA's standing army, it degraded into a grouping of militias by its last years.
Abdul Rashid Dostum had previously commanded the Jozjani militia, which later became the 53rd Infantry Division. Numbering 40,000 men drawn from the Uzbek minority, it took its orders directly from
Mohammad Najibullah
Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (Pashto/ prs, محمد نجیبالله احمدزی, ; 6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996), commonly known as Dr. Najib, was an Afghan politician who served as the General Secretary of the People's Democratic Par ...
. It was later termed as the 'only real mobile
reserve
Reserve or reserves may refer to:
Places
* Reserve, Kansas, a US city
* Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish
* Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County
* Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...
' available to the regime. After 1989, this force was the only one capable of carrying out offensive operations.
The 80th Division was reportedly formed during the
Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Sovie ...
, after 1988. It was originally an Isma'ili-sponsored tribal
Sarandoy
The Sarandoy or Tsarandoi (Pashto:څارندوی - "Defenders (of the Revolution)") were a militarized gendarmerie force of the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in the 1980s,Craig Karp, (March 1988), US Department of State Bulletin ...
(Interior Ministry) regiment/brigade. In 1989 it was the major formation in Baghlan Province, under the command of
Sayed Jafar Naderi
Sayed Jafar Naderi (born 1965) is an ethnic Hazara- Ismaili who controlled Baghlan Province of Afghanistan during the early 1990s.Sayed Mansoor Naderi, 53, the religious leader of the minor Isma`ili Islamic sect in Afghanistan. Inhabiting the areas along or adjacent to the main road leading north from the
Salang Tunnel
The Salang Tunnel ( prs, تونل سالنگ ''Tūnel-e Sālang'', ps, د سالنگ تونل ''Da Sālang Tūnel'') is a tunnel in Afghanistan, located at the Salang Pass in the Hindu Kush mountains, between the Parwan and Baghlan provinces, ...
, the cooperation of the Isma'ilis became indispensable to the PDPA regime so as to guarantee the security of convoys moving southwards to Kabul.
The corps was reportedly formed in 1990. General Khodaidad reportedly became chief of staff of the corps and commander of the 54th Division that year. On 18 April 1992,
Kiligai
Kiligai (Kilagai, Kilagay, Kila Gai, Qalagai, Dasht-e Kiligai) is a location in Baghlan Province, Afghanistan, which during the Soviet-Afghan War held one of the three major Soviet bases in Afghanistan (the other two being Shindand and Bagram). I ...
?), and the city hosted the corps headquarters and the 54th Division headquarters. The divisional commander of 54th Division, an ethnic Pashtun, handed over the divisional base complete to the Ittehad-e-Islami leader in the Kunduz area, commander Amir Chughay. Most of the units of the corps came under the sway of
Abdul Rashid Dostum
Abdul Rashid Dostum ( ; prs, عبدالرشید دوستم; Uzbek Latin: , Uzbek Cyrillic: , ; born 25 March 1954) is an Afghan exiled politician, former Marshal in the Afghan National Army, founder and leader of the political party Junbish- ...
's Juneshi-i-Mili Islami, or
National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan
The National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan ( prs, جنبش ملی اسلامی افغانستان, ''Junbish-i-Milli Islami Afghanistan''), sometimes called simply Junbish, is a Turkic political party in Afghanistan. Its founder is Marshal ...
.
Junbesh-i-Islami soon had a force of five divisions (the corps' three plus the 19th and 53rd Division) several independent brigades (including the 510th and 511th) and militia formations, plus police and armed units belonging to the national security (WAD). The force was theoretically 120,000 men strong, equipped with large amounts of armour and artillery, spread across seven of Afghanistan's provinces, from
Maimana
Maymana ( Persian/ Uzbek/Pashto: میمنه) is the capital city of Faryab Province in northwestern Afghanistan, near the Turkmenistan border. It is approximately northwest of the country's capital Kabul, and is located on the Maymana River, wh ...
, to
Sheberghan
Sheberghān or Shaburghān ( Uzbek, Pashto, fa, شبرغان), also spelled ''Shebirghan'' and ''Shibarghan'', is the capital city of the Jowzjan Province in northern Afghanistan.
The city of Sheberghan has a population of 175,599. It has four ...
, home of the 53rd Division, to Pul-i-Khumri in the east. The actual total of full-time troops probably stood at around half that number.
By mid-1994 there were two parallel 6th Corps operating in the north. Dostum's 6th Corps was based at Pul-i-Khumri and had three divisions: the 20th Division (Bagh-i-Momtaz, south of Baghlan), the 54th Division (Samangan), and the 80th Division (Qilagai/
Kiligai
Kiligai (Kilagai, Kilagay, Kila Gai, Qalagai, Dasht-e Kiligai) is a location in Baghlan Province, Afghanistan, which during the Soviet-Afghan War held one of the three major Soviet bases in Afghanistan (the other two being Shindand and Bagram). I ...
), controlled by the Naderi clan that presides over the Ismaeli. The Defence Ministry of the Kabul government's 6th Corps was based at
and also had three divisions, two sharing numbers with formations in Dostum's corps.
Davis in JIR 1994 lists the 20th, 54th, 55th and Bakakhstan Divisions.
The 29th AMF Division was reported as responsible for the nine eastern districts of
Badakhshan
Badakhshan is a historical region comprising parts of modern-day north-eastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Ba ...
and was a part of Dostum's 6th Corps in Kunduz.
Brigadier General Mohammed Daoud Andrabi Khan became corps commander and was reportedly the most powerful man in Kunduz province. Daoud was a former deputy to Masoud, is Tajik, and was a member of Jamiat-i-Islami.
An arms collection effort was initiated in late November and early December 2001 by General Atiqullah Bariyalai, who briefly headed the 6th Army Corps before becoming deputy defence minister in 2002. The International Crisis Group describes this effort as 'coordinated and partially successful,' implemented by 'a commission composed of the deputies of the corps commander, division chiefs, police chiefs, and governors in all four northeastern provinces'.
Daoud was made deputy interior minister of narcotics affairs on August 16, 2004.
One report has the corps disbanding in 2003.
See also
*
Civil war in Afghanistan (1992–1996)
War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to:
*Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC)
*Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709)
*Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see al ...
References
* {{cite book, ref={{harvid, Giustozzi, 2016, author=Antonio Giustozzi, title=The Army of Afghanistan: A Political History of a Fragile Institution, place=London, publisher=C Hurst & Co., date=2016, isbn=9781849044813 288 pp.; £35.00.
* Antonio Giustozzi, ''Empires of Mud: Wars and Warlords in Afghanistan,'' Hurst, 2009.
Corps of Afghanistan