1990

• 6 March – General Shahnawaz Tanai stages an unsuccessful coup against Kabul regime. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar declares his support for General Tanai.

• 7 May – Afghanistan’s Commanders’ Council is convened in Paktia province.

• 23 June – Second Commanders’ Council is convened in Zhawar, Paktia.

• 9 October – The High Commission of the Commanders’ Council including Ahmad Shah Massoud convenes a meeting in Badakhshan’s Shah Salim area.

• 14 October – Invited by Pakistani authorities, Ahmad Shah Massoud travels to Islamabad and meets President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

1991

• 9 February – The Resistance Government dispatches 300 Mujahideen fighters to Saudi Arabia to fight with the coalition troops against Iraq.

• 31 March – Jalaluddin Haqqani captures Khost, Paktia.

• 20 April – A major explosion in Asadabad, Kunar’s provincial capital leaves behind more than 8,000 casualties.

• 5 May – Ahmad Shah Massoud’s fighters overrun strategic Khawja Ghar base in Takhar province.

• 21 May – UN Secretary-General proposes a five-point resolution for the Afghan crisis.

• 21 July – The Mujahideen capture Khawja Ghar, Eshkashem and Zebak districts in northern Afghanistan.

• 12 August – Resistance Government leader Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi meets with Soviet deputy foreign Minister Andrei Kozerov in Islamabad to talk about Afghan resolution.

• 13 September – US and Soviet Foreign Ministers sign “Negative Symmetry” document, ceasing provision of military assistance to the Kabul regime and the resistance forces.

• 28 September – A Resistance Government delegation leaves for New York to participate in UN General Assembly.

• 5 November – A Portugese journalist stabs Mohammad Zahir Shah during an interview with the former King in his villa outside Rome, Italy. The King survives despite severe wounds.

• 11 November – Invited by the Soviet Government, the first Resistance Government delegation headed by Burhanuddin Rabbani arrives in Moscow.

• 15 November – Soviet and Resistance Officials release a Joint Declaration in Moscow.

• 19 November – Gulbuddin Hekmatyar announced his plan of comprehensive attack against Kabul regime, launched by a single pistol shot fired against a post in Logar.

1992

• 13 January -- General Mo'men, commander of the Hairatan Garrison rebels against Najibullah by disobeying his orders.

• 15 March – The Mujahideen capture Samangan Province.

• 18 March -- The city of Mazar-e-Sharif is liberated by the Mujahideen.

• 16 April -- Abdul Wakil, Foreign Minister of the Najibullah regime, meets Ahmad Shah Massoud in Jabal-us-Saraj, declaring an unconditional surrender of the regime to the Mujahideen. Dr. Najibullah seeks refuge at the UN compound in Kabul.

• 18 April – The Mujahideen capture Herat.

• 20 April – Kandahar is overrun by a coalition of resistance groups.

• 22 April – The Mujahideen seize Badakhshan’s provincial capital Faizabad.

• 23 April – General Rafi, Vice-President of the Kabul regime meets with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in Logar. Ahmad Shah Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar negotiate the regime’s collapse by radio communication.

• 28 April -- The transfer of power to the Mujahideen takes place amidst ceremonies. Sibghatullah Mojaddedi heads the resistance administration.

• 28 June -- Mojaddedi's two months of interim power ends, and Burhanuddin Rabbani begins his term as the President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan.

• 6 July – Instructed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Abdul Saboor Farid arrives in Kabul as the new Prime Minister.

• 13 July -- The Russian air force raids the village of Khursnagan in the Chah'Ab District.

• 9 August – Hezb-e-Islami headed by Hekmatyar launches massive rocket attacks on Kabul.

• 31 October – Burhanuddin Rabbani’s terms as President is over but transfer of power is delayed until the convocation of the council of “Ahle Hal-o-Aqd” on 29 December ’92.

1994

• 1 January -- The joint Hekmatyar-Dostum-Mazari coup is foiled by Kabul.

• 28 January – UN Security Council requests from all sides to the conflict to cease hostilities.

• 12 February – UN Secretary-General appoints a Tunisian diplomat known as Mahmood Mestiri as special representative for Afghanistan.

• 14 September – Pakistan declares that the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Central Asia transit route will be reopened.

• 15 October – A new group calling itself the Taliban captures Spin Boldak.

• 12 November – Talilban capture Kandahar.

• 23 December – UN General Assembly convenes a session on the Afghan crisis.

1995

• 10 February – Taliban overrun Wardak Province, followed by Logar the next day.

• 12 March -- Abdul Ali Mazari, the leader of Hezb-e Wahdat-e- Islami, is brutally

• murdered by the Taliban.

• 11 April – Afghan Government protests Russian air raids in northern Afghanistan.

• 5 September – Taliban capture Herat.

• 6 September – Kabul citizens stage a massive protest in front of Pakistani embassy. A guard fires on protestors, who enter the compound and ransack it.

• 9 September – Pakistan announces it will establish an embassy in Jalalabad.

1996

• 21 February – Gulbuddin Hekmatyar declares he will join Burhanuddin Rabbani’s government.

• 31 March – A group of religious leaders with many foreigners among them declare Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar as ‘Amir-ul Momineen’ or commander of the faithful.

• 24 May – An agreement is reached between the government and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

• 11 September – Taliban capture Jalalabad.

• 13 September – Former King Mohammad Zahir Shah releases a statement declaring he will soon go to Afghanistan.

• 23 September – Afghan Foreign Ministry issues a letter to the UN Secretary-General informing of Pakistani interference in Afghan affairs.

• 26 September – Taliban capture Kabul.

• 27 September – Dr. Najibullah, former Afghan president along with his brother are killed and hanged by the Taliban.

• 14 October – Afghan coalition against the Taliban meets in the Salang Tunnel and sign agreement on a joint strategy.

• 1 December – Babrak Karmal dies in Moscow.

1997

• 16 May – Heads of State of Pakistan and Turkmenistan and Presidents of US-based UNOCAL and Saudi Delta Oil sign agreement in Ashgabat on a pipeline extending through Afghanistan from Turmenistan to Pakistan.

• 18 May – General Abdul Malek revolts against General Dostum and takes over Mazar.

• 29 May -- Approximately 10,000 Taliban fighters either are killed or disappear in northern Afghanistan.

• 10 July – Leaders of the anti-Taliban resistance appointed Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai as Prime Minister.

• 21 August -- Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai, the Prime Minister of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, along with many officials, his staff and colleagues, die in a plane crash in Bamyan.

• 18 December – UN Credentials Committee renewed the status of the Islamic State of Afghanistan under Burhanuddin Rabbani as the legal government of Afghanistan to occupy the UN seat.

1998

• 4 February -- A severe earthquake rocks the provinces of Takhar and Badakhshan, killing at least 5,000 inhabitants.

• July -- Pakistani Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan uses the term "strategic depth" in Afghanistan during an interview with the Egyptian daily newspaper, Al-Ahram. He makes remark in reference to an upcoming major Taliban offensive in Northern Afghanistan.

• 8 August -- The Taliban recapture Mazar-e-Sharif, killing at least 20,000 dwellers, in addition to nine Iranian diplomats and one journalist.

• 20 August – The US launched tomahawk missiles into training camps in Khost and Ningarhar. All killed were reported as Pakistanis.

• 21 August – Taliban kill an Italian officer working for the UN.

• 21 September – Foreign Ministers of “the Group of 6+2” (US, Russia, Afghanistan and its five neighbors) meet inside the UN compound in New York and discuss the Afghan crisis.

• 8 December – The UN Security Council passes a Resolution with unanimous vote warning the Taliban not to assist terrorist organizations, to put a stop to narcotics and to women’s rights abuses.

1999

• 11 March – Taliban and opposition officials meet in Ashgabat to discuss Afghan solution.

• 1 July -- The Taliban proceed towards Parwan, Kapisa and northern Kabul, forcing some 350,000 inhabitants out of their houses. Some take refuge in the Panjshir Valley, and some 45,000 others are displaced into other areas.

• 4 July – Anti-Taliban Mujahideen liberate Parwan and Kapisa in a lightning strike.

• 5 July – US President Bill Clinton signs decree imposing sanctions against the Taliban.

• 24 December -- An Indian airliner with 160 passengers is hijacked by Kashmiri militants and later lands at the Kandahar Airport. The Taliban are involved in the plot.

• 3 August – Former King Mohammad Zahir Shah issues a statement condemning military campaign in northern Kabul areas and expressing concern over the presence of foreign military personnel.

• August – The Taliban drive out over 200,000 Shamali Plain inhabitants from their villages.

• 15 October – Afghan Ariana Airlines is grounded under sanctions.

• 25 November – Former King Mohammad Zahir Shah inaugurates a Loya Jirga convened in Rome.

2000

• 18 March – Taliban issue a decree that celebrating Nauroz (Afghan New Year’s Day) is un-Islamic.

• 21 December – UN Security Council expands the scope of sanctions against the Taliban.

2001

• - January -- The United Nations imposes additional sanctions on the Taliban to force them to surrender Osama bin Laden to U.S. authorities.

• 26 February – Taliban issue a decree to destroy all statues in Afghanistan.

• 9-20 March -- The Taliban destroy the historic giant Buddha statues in Bamyan province in an act of vengeance towards the non-Islamic international community.

• - April -- Mullah Mohammad Rabbani, the second leading Taliban figure (after Mullah Mohammad Omar) is said to die of liver cancer.

• - May -- The Taliban orders all religious minorities to wear ethnic identification lapels in public to identify them as non-Muslims. Hindu women are ordered to veil themselves like all women under Taliban rule.

• - September – The Taliban put eight foreign aid employees on trial, claiming that the aid workers actively promote Christianity. This incident follows months of increased tension between the Taliban and foreign aid agencies.

• 9 September – Two Arab al-Qaeda operatives posing as journalists martyr legendary Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud at his base in Khawja Bahauddin.

• 22 September – United Arab Emirate cuts relations with the Taliban, followed by Saudi Arabia.

• 25 September – Taliban torch US embassy in Kabul.

• 7 October -- After the Taliban continuously reject American demands to hand over Osama bin Laden, the United States and Great Britain launch massive air strikes against Taliban held territories in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden is deemed responsible for the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

• 26 October – Taliban capture legendary Commander Abdul Haq and martyr him.

• 14 November – UN Security Council adopts a Resolution on the establishment of a broad-based, multi-ethnic government in Afghanistan.

• 15 November – Forces opposing the Taliban capture Kabul.

• 27 November - Various Afghan groups, representing all ethnic groups, meet in Bonn Germany to form an interim government.

• 7 December -- The Taliban decide to leave their last stronghold city of Kandahar. Mullah Omar, the Supreme leader of the Taliban, remains at large.

• 22 December -- Hamid Karzai takes over as Chairman of a 30-member, power sharing government at an official swearing-in ceremony in Kabul.

2002

• 5 January – Agreement on the deployment of International Security Assistance Force is signed in Kabul.

• 21 January -- Interim government Chairman Hamid Karzai pays his first official visit to Japan for an International Donors’ Conference and is warmly received by Prime Minister Koizumi. He also has audience with His Majesty Emperor Akihito.

• 18 April - Former King Zahir Shah returns to Afghanistan from exile in Italy after 29 years.

• 21 May - The Civil Service Commission is formally established by a Presidential decree on 21 May 2002.

• 6 June - The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) is established by a Presidential Decree as the product of a national consultative process between Afghan human rights activists, the Interim Administration and the United Nations.

• 11 June – Loya Jirga, grand council, elects Hamid Karzi as Interim President and establishes the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan to serve as the legal Government for two years.

• 19 June – On its last day, members of the Loya Jirga proclaimed former King Mohammad Zahir Shah as “the Father of the Nation."

• 28 July – Afghanistan signs the Convention on the Prohibition of use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines.

• 7 October - New Afghan currency replaces old money with exchange rate of 1:1000.

• 22 December – Afghanistan and five neighboring states sign “Declaration on Good Neighbourly Relations.”

2003

• 26 July – Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) is established with the participation of the members of the Afghan Interim Electoral Commission and a team of the UN-appointed electoral experts on assistance to carry out national registration as well as related matters.

• August -- NATO begins mission in Afghanistan to provide security to Kabul as well as provinces beyond the capital. It is the first time in the organization's history in which it has committed to operations outside of Europe.

• 3 November - The Constitutional Commission makes available to the public the final draft of the constitution.

• 14 December - The 502-member Constitutional Loya Jirga convenes to debate and adopt the draft of the Constitution.

2004

• 4 January – President Hamid Karzai signs into law the Constitution adopted by the Constitutional Loya Jirga after 22 days of debate.

• 31 March – The Berlin Donors’ Conference is convened to assess the progress in Afghanistan and to provide additional assistance for the development and stabilization process in Afghanistan. Donors pledged $8.2 billion over a four-year period.

• 26 July – Eighteen presidential candidates are announced as qualifying for the 9 October presidential elections, among them President Hamid Karzai.

• 7 September – Official presidential election campaign kicks-off.