# After the Soviet withdrawal in February 1989, the U.S. intelligence agencies expected the PDPA regime to collapse within three to six months but it did not happen that way !
# By the spring of 1989, the Afghan government showed no signs of falling apart, and the American and Pakistan supporters of some of the mujahideen decided to hasten its demise. An operation was planned, under the impulsion of U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Robert B. Oakley, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, to capture Jalalabad
# Upon conclusion of the battle, Pakistan intended to install a new government under Gulbuddin Hekmatyar with its provisional capital based in Jalalabad. The Pakistan-backed Afghan Interim Government included Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as Prime Minister and Abdul Rasul Sayyaf as Foreign Minister.
# The central organizer of the offensive on the Pakistani side was Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul, Director-General of the ISI.
# Involved in the operation were forces of Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf's Ittihad-i Islami and Arab fighters, totalling 10,000 men.
# The attack began on March 5, 1989, and went well at first for the mujahideen, who captured the village of Samarkhel and the Jalalabad airfield.
# By July, they were unable to prevent the Afghan Army from recapturing Samarkhel, and Jalalabad was still firmly in the hands of Najibullah's government.
# The mujahideen suffered an estimated 3,000 casualties during this battle. An estimated number of 12,000 – 15,000 civilians were killed, while 10,000 had fled the fighting.
#
General Hamid Gul was immediately sacked by Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and replaced with General Shamsur Rahman Kallu as the Director-General of the ISI.
Civil war in Afghanistan (1989–92) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
