
Last modified: 2025-01-11 by ian macdonald
Keywords: afghanistan | northern alliance | unidentified flag | 
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Many people in northern Afghanistan (ethnic Uzbeks, Tadjiks) did not support the Taliban. In 1991 general-colonel Abdul Rashid Dostum created an anti-Taliban division. In 1992 he and Ahmad-shah Massood created the government of North Afghanistan and the People's Muslim Movement of Afghanistan. (...)
Victor Lomantsov, 5 April 2001
I think that black-red-green flags were used by different factions of today's Northern Alliance as their party flags. Thus they were not flags of North Afghanistan  which, naturally, does not exist as a political unit. After re-unification of all anti-Taleban parties, they became to (re)use the
national flag (green-white-black).
Jan Zrzavy, 9 October 2001
I agree with Jan Zrzavy's statement, that Dostum's North Afghanistan flag was most probably only the flag of one of the main factions of the Northern Alliance, the Uzbeks under Dostum. (...) The other main faction of the Northern Alliance (the Tadjiks) was headed by Ahmed Shah Massood. We have seen the use of the green-white-black national flag of 1992 as their flag (with variations, though). As the internationally recognized government (until 22 December 2001 at least) was headed by Burhanuddin Rabbani, another Tadjik, it is not surprising that the Tadjik faction used this flag.
So most probably there had been at least two flags used by the Northern Alliance, at least for some time. If they agreed on a common flag at a later date, is in my opinion unclear. It is also unclear, if other factions of the Northern Alliance (e.g. the Hazara) used their own flags.
M. Schmöger, 19 December 2001
Journalist Christophe de Pontilly, who is authoritative on Afghan matters and was a close friend of the late Commandant Massood, explained on France-Inter, 14 October 2002, that the name Northern Alliance was absolutely erroneous and was never coined by Massood. The real name of Massood's movement was United National Front for the Salute of Afghanistan. Northern Alliance is particularly unsuitable since Massood's movement was not restricted to the north of the country. Moreover, the often claimed opposition between Massood in the north and the Talibans in the south is an oversimplification of the situation.
Ivan Sache, 14 October 2002
The coalition of forces that became known as Northern Alliance (the main 
force opposing the Taliban and later al-Qaeda, but 
not the only one) (colloquially known as Afghan Northern 
Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of 
Afghanistan (Persian: جبهه متحد اسلامی ملی برای نجات افغانستان Jabha-yi 
Muttahid-i Islāmi-yi Millī barā-yi Nijāt-i Afghānistān) was actually set up by 
several factions that had been battling the Communist regime established in 
1978, and together joined forces in order to fight the 
Taliban since September 1996.
The Mujahideen were originally 
guerrilla forces that were against the Soviet intervention in the Afghanistan 
Civil War, but when the Soviets left in 1989, the war still continued until the
Taliban took over in 1996 and formally established a 
new State, with the core of Mujahideen now fighting against the Taliban (in the 
beginning the Mujahideen included several Taliban members, but when the new 
Islamic State was set up, the Mujahideen and the Taliban became opposition 
forces).
The Mujahideen (before the Taliban took control in 1996) were 
mainly two groups:
1. The Peshawar Seven (Islamic Unity of Afghanistan 
Mujahideen, also known as the
Seven Party Mujahideen Alliance) established in May 1985 and supported by 
Pakistan. The constituents of the Peshawar Seven alliance fell into two 
categories:
1.1 The political Islamists: Hezb-e-Islami (led by Mohammad Yunus 
Khalis), Hezbi Islami (led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar), 
Jamiat-i-Islami (led by Burhanuddin Rabbani), and Islamic Union for the 
Liberation of Afghanistan (led by Abdul Rasul Sayyaf).
"Hezbi Islami (also 
Hezb-e Islami, Hezb-i-Islami, Hezbi-Islami, Hezb-e-Islami), meaning Islamic 
Party is an Islamist organization that was commonly known for fighting the
Communist Government of Afghanistan and their close 
ally the Soviet Union. Founded and led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, it was 
established in Afghanistan in 1975. It grew out of the
Muslim Youth 
organization, an Islamist organization founded in Kabul by students and teachers 
at Kabul University in 1969 to combat communism in Afghanistan. Its membership 
was drawn from ethnic Pashtuns, and its ideology 
from the Muslim Brotherhood and Abul Ala Maududi's
Jamaat-e-Islami. Another source describes it as 
having splintered away from Burhanuddin Rabbani's original Islamist party, 
Jamiat-e Islami, in 1976, after Hekmatyar found that group too moderate and 
willing to compromise with others. Hezbi Islami seeks to emulate the Ikhwan 
militia of Saudi Arabia and to replace the various tribal factions of 
Afghanistan with one unified Islamic state. This puts them at odds with the more 
tribe-oriented Taliban. Later on there was a split, evolving into the Hezb-e 
Islami (حزب اسلامی گلبدین) (Gulbuddin), or Hezb-e Islami 
Gulbuddin, HIG, established in 1977 (flag seen here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezb-e_Islami_Gulbuddin#mediaviewer/File:Flag_of_Hezbi_Islami_Gulbuddin.svg) 
and the Hezb-e Islami (Khalis), or Hezb-e Islami Khalis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezb-e_Islami_Khalis), 
HIK, established in 1979 (at some point the HIG was considered a terrorist 
organization for their attacks against CPA forces during the occupation of 
Afghanistan.
1.2 The traditionalists: National Islamic Front for 
Afghanistan (led by Ahmed Gailani), Afghanistan National Liberation Front (led 
by Sibghatullah Mojaddedi), and Revolutionary Islamic Movement (led by Mohammad 
Nabi Mohammadi). All of the groups were Sunni Muslims, and all were majority 
Pashtun except Jamiat-i-Islami, which was predominantly Tajik.
2. The 
Tehran Eight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehran_Eight) 
established in and supported by Iran:
Regarding the Northern Alliance (or The 
United Front), was a resistance force against the Taliban government by 
opposition factions. Since early 1999, Ahmad Shah Massoud was the only main 
leader able to defend his territory against the Taliban and as such remained as 
the main de facto political and military leader of the United Front recognized 
by members of all the different ethnic groups. Massoud decided on the main 
political line and the general military strategy of the alliance. A part of the 
United Front military factions such as Junbish-i Milli or Hezb-e Wahdat, 
however, did not fall under the direct control of Massoud but remained under 
their respective regional or ethnic leaders. Military commanders of the United 
Front were either independent or belonged to one of the following political 
parties:
- the Sunni Tajik-dominated Jamiat-e Islami (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamiat-e_Islami) 
led by Ahmad Shah Massoud and Burhanuddin Rabbani 
(currently a major political party) 
- the Sunni Uzbek and Turkmen-dominated 
Junbish-i Milli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Islamic_Movement_of_Afghanistan) 
led by Abdul Rashid Dostum (flag seen here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Islamic_Movement_of_Afghanistan#mediaviewer/File:Flag_of_the_National_Islamic_Movement_of_Afghanistan.svg) 
(currently a major political party, official website:
http://www.junbesh.net/)
- the Sunni 
Pashtun-dominated Eastern Shura (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Shura) 
led by Abdul Qadir (dubbed a collaborationist de facto regime as the result of 
surrender negotiations on November 13, 2001, between Younus Khalis and Osama bin 
Laden)
- the Shia Tajik and Hazara-dominated Harakat-e Islami (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Movement_of_Afghanistan) 
led by Sayed Hussain Anwari (currently a political party, official website:
http://harakatislami.af/)
- the Shia 
Hazara-dominated Hezb-e Wahdat led by Mohammad Mohaqiq and Karim Khalili (currently a political party, official website: 
http://www.wahdat.net/)
At one point (or another) during the 
Afghanistan Civil War, there have (had) been other factions, such as:
- 
al-Qaida (led by Osama bin Laden)
- Haqqani Network (led by Jalaluddin 
Haqqani)
- Shura-e Nazar (an offshoot of Jamiat-i-Islami, led by Ahmad Shah 
Massoud)
- Ittihad-i Islami
- Harakat-i Inqilab
Sources:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Afghanistan_insurgency_1985.png 
and 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Afghanistan_politisch_1989.png 
Esteban Rivera, 2 January 2015
![[Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (Afghanistan)]](../images/a/af}gulb1.gif) image by Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
 
image by Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
I found three variants of flag of Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin, first one is plain 
green with its emblem.
Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
![[Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (Afghanistan)]](../images/a/af}gulb2.gif) image by Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
 
image by Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
Second one is the same, but a its name is placed under its emblem.
Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
![[Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (Afghanistan)]](../images/a/af}gulb3.gif) image by Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
 
image by Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
The third one has the inscription "Allahu Akhbar" added and placed over the 
emblem.
Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
![[National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan (Afghanistan)]](../images/a/af}nima.gif) image by Zoltan Horvath and António Martins-Tuválkin, 5 December 2016
 
image by Zoltan Horvath and António Martins-Tuválkin, 5 December 2016
The emblem of National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan is not so oval as 
Wikipedia shows it, please compare it with these photos:
http://www.junbesh.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dostom.jpg and
http://www.junbesh.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/d-pasha2.jpg 
 Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
Relevant links:
Emblem in use on the page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Emblem_of_the_National_Islamic_Movement_of_Afghanistan.svg
Flag in use on the page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_National_Islamic_Movement_of_Afghanistan.svg
Wikipedia page as as quoting date:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Islamic_Movement_of_Afghanistan&oldid=623291024
 António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 November 2016
![[Jamiat-e Islami (Afghanistan)]](../images/a/af}jamiat.gif) image by Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
 
image by Zoltan Horvath, 3 January 2015
I saw this flag flying (attached) on the front of a warlord truck in Afghanistan on CBS news 9 August 2002.
Steve Stringfellow, 12 August 2002