Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan
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The Islamic
Dawah Dawah ( ar, دعوة, lit=invitation, ) is the act of inviting or calling people to embrace Islam. The plural is ''da‘wāt'' (دَعْوات) or ''da‘awāt'' (دَعَوات). Etymology The English term ''Dawah'' derives from the Arabic ...
Organization of Afghanistan ( ps, د اسلامي دعوت تنظيم افغانستان, fa, تنظیم دعوت اسلامی افغانستان, ''Tanzim-e Dahwat-e Islami-ye Afghanistan'') is a political party in Afghanistan led by Abdul Rasul Sayyaf. Founded in the early 1980s as the Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan (''Ittehad-e Islami bara-ye Azadi-ye Afghanistan'', fa, links=no, اتحاد اسلامی برای آزادی افغانستان), it was originally an attempt to bring unity amongst Islamist opposition forces in Afghanistan. However, the creation of the new umbrella organization effectively created a split and the organization became a political party of its own. The organization was part of the ' Peshawar Seven', the coalition of
mujahedin ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...
forces supported by the United States, Pakistan and various
Arab states of the Persian Gulf The Arab states of the Persian Gulf refers to a group of Arab states which border the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. ...
in the war against the
PDPA PDPA can refer to: * People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan – a communist party * Personal Data Protection Act 2012 – a Singapore law governing the use and protection of personal data *Professional Dart Players Association – a trade associ ...
government, Soviet forces and
Ba'athist Iraq Ba'athist Iraq, formally the Iraqi Republic until 6 January 1992 and the Republic of Iraq thereafter, covers the History of Iraq, national history of Iraq between 1968 and 2003 under the rule of the Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction), Arab S ...
. Through the financial aid received from
Saudi Saudi may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is c ...
sources, the organization was able to attract a considerable military following. Arab volunteers fought in the militia forces of the organisation.


Afghan Civil War (1992–96)

After the ouster of the PDPA government in April 1992, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar initiated a bombardment campaign against the Islamic State of Afghanistan which had been established by the peace and power-sharing agreement Peshawar Accords. In addition, Saudi Arabia and Iran – as competitors for regional hegemony – supported Afghan militias hostile towards each other. According to Human Rights Watch, "Iran assisted the Shia
Hazara Hazara may refer to: Ethnic groups * The Hazaras, a Persian-speaking people of Afghanistan and Pakistan * Aimaq Hazara, Aimaq's subtribe of Hazara origin * Hazarawals, a Hindko-speaking people of the Hazara region of northern Pakistan * Hazar ...
Hezb-i Wahdat forces of Abdul Ali Mazari, as Iran attempted to maximize Wahdat's military power and influence."Gutman, Roy (2008): How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan, Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, 1st ed., Washington DC. Saudi Arabia supported the
Wahhabite Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, a ...
Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and his Ittihad-i Islami faction. Conflict between the two militias soon escalated into a full-scale war. Both Ittihad and Wahdat engaged in large-scale kidnapping campaigns against civilians and combatants of the "other side". The Islamic State and International Committee of the Red Cross regularly tried to mediate between the two sides, but cease-fires commonly were broken in a matter of days. In early 1993, the Hezb-i Wahdat joined an alliance with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar starting to shell northern Kabul. On February 11, 1993, Ittihad forces took part in the Islamic State's military Afshar operation which had the objective of ending the bombardment on residential areas in northern Kabul conducted by Hezb-i Wadat. After the military operation had ended and successfully forced Wahdat forces from the area, Ittihad forces started to escalate the situation by turning against the civilian population. During and after the operation 70 combatants and civilians were killed. After the operation Ittihad troops under the command of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf kidnapped up to 900 people, 200 of whom were released after ransoms were paid to Ittihad commanders, 700 were never returned by Ittihad forces. In 2001, Ittihad's leader Abdul Rasul Sayyaf was suspected of being complicit in the assassination of anti-Taliban leader
Ahmad Shah Massoud ) , branch = Jamiat-e Islami / Shura-e Nazar Afghan Armed Forces United Islamic Front , serviceyears = 1975–2001 , rank = General , unit = , commands = Mujahideen commander during the Soviet–Afghan Wa ...
. In 2005, the Ittihad organization was registered as a political party with the Ministry of Justice under its new name. Sayyaf and Ittihad are currently allied to the Karzai government. The party is strongest in the Paghman area and receives most of its support from Pashtuns. Ideologically, the party follows and advocates an Orthodox form of Islam.


References

{{Political parties in Afghanistan Anti-Soviet factions in the Soviet–Afghan War Islamic Dawah Organisation of Afghanistan politicians Islamist groups Islamic political parties in Afghanistan Political parties established in the 1980s Political parties in Afghanistan