The War in Afghanistan, That thing everyone forgot about

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

[OOC: This post is unofficial pending the approval of the United States and Pakistan (if they're active), as it makes some assumptions about what they have done between the start of this round and the current time. I'll be wrapping up these plotlines over the next two months of OOC time. A couple of notes at the start:

1. The bolded sections represent events that actually took place in the 21c universe, and are attributed to their sources parenthetically at the end of each sentence. The unbolded sections are my suggestions for what has happened in Afghanistan since that point, based on the events that have occurred already and current conditions in Afghanistan as I understand them.

2. There is a great deal of confusion between the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, TTP) and the Taliban which operates in Afghanistan. The two groups do not have formal relations or goals, though they share a somewhat similar interpretation of the Quran. The Taliban have shown little inclination to work with the TTP. The Pakistani Army has been known to cooperate with the Taliban in the past, and fought with them during the Afghan civil war of 1996-2001, though they claim that they have cut support since the September 11th attacks. The Pakistani Army has been in conflict sporadically with the TTP since the group’s founding.

Enjoy!]

Chronological History of Afghanistan, 1Q2012-3Q2015

2012

1Q2012: Spanish troops withdraw from Afghanistan (Spain). Global growth trends in the Middle East, including Afghanistan, are unusually positive (Event).

International support in Afghanistan begins to wane, exemplified in the Spanish withdrawal from both combat and non-combat operations throughout the country. The bulk of combat troops now hail from the United States and the United Kingdom, though their presence does assist in the growth of the Afghan economy. The growth comes largely from foreign direct investment and from growth in the illegal poppy trade, which follows regional trends.

2Q2012: Iran attempts to make contact with Afghan insurgent groups, requesting a targeted campaign against Italian troops. At the same time, the country launches both industrialization projects and increases in military spending (Iran). The Afghan National Army increases in size by 15,000 troops, forming three new divisions (Afghanistan). A formal diplomatic office for the Taliban is opened in Qatar, paving the way for negotiations with involved nations (Event).

Iran’s influence on the insurgent groups in Afghanistan has little effect, as the bitter rivalries between the Shiite Iranian state and the Sunni Afghan guerillas prove too intense to overcome. The insurgency appears to wane, as attacks decrease in Southern Afghanistan, caused by a combination of factors. The American pivot of forces towards the east, to more directly confront the Haqqani network leads to less conflict, while the Taliban hopes to wait out American occupation as Ron Paul takes the lead in American primary polls. The opening of a diplomatic office in Qatar bolsters the hope of a diplomatic settlement with the new American administration, instead of having to confront an expanded Afghan National Army.

3Q2012: No Afghan-related news.

As fall approaches and the spring fighting season ends, the violence in Afghanistan tails off. American troops continue to make preparations to move into eastern Afghanistan to fight the growing power of the Haqqani network, while the Taliban retreats into Pakistan and bides its time. Diplomatic efforts between the Taliban and the occupying powers continue to little avail.

4Q2012: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party rises to national prominence, with the support of retired, liberal Chief of Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The ruling PPP party loses ground to its new rivals (Pakistan). Ron Paul inexplicably wins the presidential election, and Republican allies take control of the Congress. The “bulk” of American forces are withdrawn from “overseas”, presumably including an accelerated withdrawal from Afghanistan. The vast majority of American overseas bases are shuttered (United States).

Ron Paul’s election in the United States signals the clear end of the American occupation of Afghanistan, and the accelerated troop withdrawal that follows leads to a premature cancellation of combat operations against the Haqqani network in the east. The anticipation of an assault had led to a massive armament campaign by the Haqqanis, and the abrupt drawdown leads to a massive increase in their power domestically. The Taliban, weakened by the American offensive in the south earlier, are left at a severe disadvantage in the following positioning for political influence in the post-occupation country. At the same time, the prospect of more liberal governance in Pakistan’s tribal areas increases the temptation to slip across the porous border into Pakistan.

2013

1Q2013: The Middle Eastern region again experiences above-average growth, but the Afghan economy grinds to a shaky halt as American troops withdraw (Event). The PTI wins a plurality in parliamentary elections, and form a governing coalition with the PML-Q and MQM parties. Imran Khan, a former cricketer and political unknown, becomes Prime Minister (Pakistan). Iran builds two additional “border forts” and refurbishes an armored division, expanding its air force with 52 indigenous stealth aircraft at the same time (Iran).

The accelerated American withdrawal sets the stage for a showdown between three emerging powers in the post-occupation country: the Afghan government, led by Hamid Karzai; the Taliban umbrella group, controlling much of the south and led by Mullah Omar; and the Haqqani network, controlling much of the east and led by Jalaluddin Haqqani. Tensions between the latter two rise, and minor skirmishes in the southeast begin. The increased activity by both groups leads to an increased flow of both men and materiel across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Increasing militarization by traditional rival Iran leads to a joint focus by the Afghan government on counterinsurgency and traditional military development. Foreign aid, under less direct supervision by the United States and ISAF, is transferred partially to armor, artillery, and combat aircraft, traditionally underfunded.

2Q2013: Conservative candidate Mohsen Rezaee wins the Iranian presidential elections, and appoints liberal candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi as Vice President to calm popular unrest. Mousavi calls on Sunni to take a greater role in leadership in their countries.

The conflict between the Haqqani and the Taliban grows, as the ANA largely stays removed from the fighting. Insurgent attacks on ANA and Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (IRA) targets decrease as the two groups focus on their resources on the struggle over poppy-rich southern territories. Fighting for control over the border with Pakistan also escalates. The government's fear of a meddling Iran continues despite the attempted appeasement of Sunni Muslims, who make up 80% of the Afghan population. The government continues to shift its focus from counterinsurgency operations to a focus on countering Iranian influence. The newly-formed divisions of the ANA are transferred to the border regions with Iran instead of being moved into the restive southeast as planned.

3Q2013: The Afghan government supports efforts to break the flotilla around the Gaza Strip (Event). Escalating Pakistani Taliban violence in the FATA and NWFP areas leads to increasing civilian cooperation with the Pakistani Army (Pakistan).

The advances made by the Pakistani Army in the FATA and NWFP areas complicate the Haqqani/Taliban conflict. The Haqqanis begin to gain much stronger influence on the Pakistani side of the border, thanks to their close ties to the ISI and the stigma of the Taliban name. The Taliban (both Pakistani and Afghan) begin to lose access to bases in Pakistan, and the lack of safe havens and material support forces them to move into Afghanistan border areas instead. The Haqqani network increases cooperation with the Pakistani government, and especially the ISI, to take over the vacuum in power that ensues.

4Q2013: The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan reaches a peace agreement with the Pakistani government in exchange for semi-autonomy. Pakistan begins reconciliation with India and a drive to fight corruption in its armed forces (Pakistan).

The conflict in Pakistan takes a turn as the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) reconcile with the Pakistani government and leadership in both contested provinces is open to the groups. The TTP remain neutral in the struggle between the Taliban and the Haqqanis, but the withdrawal of Pakistani Army deprives the Haqqani network of its protection and resources. Taliban resources and manpower that had fled to Afghanistan from Pakistan return in an attempt to seize control of the contested regions. Earlier advantages taken by the Haqqanis are held, but their advances are blunted. The intensity of conflict in Afghanistan lowers, and the ANA’s focus shifts even further from the southeast. ANA units cease offensive operations against Haqqani and Taliban targets, and enter a period of reorganization. The “reorganization” is a poorly-veiled play by President Hamid Karzai to take more direct control over the Army, as experienced commanders are replaced by more pliant Karzai advisers ahead of the 2014 presidential election. Karzai announces his intention to stand for reelection in 2014 despite a constitutional ban on presidents serving three consecutive terms, and asks the parliament to amend the constitution to allow for the change.

2014

1Q2014: The Middle East region experiences mixed growth; the Afghan economy rates among some of the weaker-growing economies (Event).

The weakening Afghan economy leads to an increasing public anger in the Northern provinces against President Hamid Karzai. This does not deter Karzai from his bid for a third presidential term, but his efforts to pressure the Parliament into approving the change to the Constitution find extremely heavy resistance. In Pakistan, struggles between the Taliban and the Haqqani network reach a stalemate, as both groups regroup in preparation for the spring fighting season. ANA reorganization continues over the protests of both military leadership and civilian claims of corruption in the process. More units are pulled from the southeast to Kabul, as the army faces increased training near the capital.

2Q2014: No Afghan-related news.

With the arrival of the spring fighting season in Afghanistan and Pakistan, conflict between the Haqqanis and Taliban in Pakistan does as well. The Haqqanis consolidate their control over Waziristan, a portion of the FATA. The Taliban attempt to retreat to the NWFP but are blocked by a reluctant TTP, which blocks the retreat in an attempt to consolidate its own control over the areas abandoned by the Pakistani Army. The Taliban are forced to retreat into Afghanistan and to move their Pakistani operations into areas along the Pakistani border with southern Afghanistan, abandoning the FATA to the Haqqanis.

3Q2014: No Afghan-related news.

As fighting in Pakistan wanes, both the Haqqanis and the Taliban begin moving troops and resources back into Afghanistan proper, where local warlords affiliated with both groups have taken control of most day-to-day operations in the country. The absence of the ANA and the warring groups has led to an uneasy peace and the massive increase of the poppy trade. In the north, an impasse between Karzai and the parliament grows tense. The ANA continues to amass near the capital city of Kabul as the constitutional standoff continues to threaten the sitting government. At the same time, a variety of presidential challengers begins to amass, led by former presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, representing the National Coalition of Afghanistan, an umbrella group for opponents of Karzai. With the international community and the Afghan population largely believing that Abdullah might have won a fair presidential contest in 2009, he emerges as the clear front-runner to unseat Karzai if the elections are fair.

4Q2014: No Afghan-related news.

The arrival of winter largely ends fighting in both Pakistan and Afghanistan between the Taliban and the Haqqanis. Both groups regroup and rearm, moving more resources into Afghanistan and preparing for a protracted struggle to take control of poppy fields and the limited industry in the south and east of the country. Both groups also begin to consolidate political control over the regions; the Taliban’s shadow governments, established during the American occupation take control in their provinces, while the Haqqani network bolsters allied warlords with bribes and threats. In the north, the parliament refuses a final request from Karzai to amend the constitution, and demands that the sitting president step down from his candidacy. Karzai responds by unilaterally cancelling elections and refusing to reschedule until the parliament agrees to his changes. Protests break out throughout the north, though Kabul itself remains relatively peaceful as it is strongly Karzai-aligned.

2015

1Q2015: The Middle East region experiences economic disruptions, and the Afghan economy is affected disproportionally (Event).

The Afghan economy slows rapidly as the standoff between Karzai and the parliament leads the cutoff of much foreign aid promised by the United States and NATO allies. The economic turmoil sets off protests even within Kabul, which was previously controlled by staunch supporters of the sitting president. The ANA is called to control protests in the areas surrounding the capital, but remains outside of the city itself. Elsewhere in the north, riots break out as the alliance binding the northern provinces faces extreme pressures resulting from the constitutional crisis. In the southeast, the Taliban and the Haqqanis both continue to consolidate their political and military control of their areas of control. Increased arms shipments from Pakistan flow to both groups, but the Haqqanis gain a larger portion of reinforcements and supplies.

2Q2015: No Afghan-related news.

The arrival of the spring fighting season in Afghanistan leads to an abrupt and bloody spike in fatalities, both civilian and military. The Haqqanis launch a massive, multi-front assault on Taliban positions across southern Afghanistan, attempting to reach the Taliban stronghold in Kandahar. The offensive, fueled by an abundance of Pakistani arms and money, is enough to give the Haqqanis the edge in the initial offensive, and their drive south is marked by brutal treatment of civilians and captured Taliban fighters. In response, the Taliban launch a counteroffensive, but they succeed in only slowing the Haqqani offensive in a bloody stalemate. In the north, riots continue through most of the north, and ethnic tensions between the various groups continue to splinter the political peace. The ANA, now closely aligned with Karzai, begins to experience repeated incidents of internal conflict along ethnic lines. Karzai-aligned commanders begin to crack down on ethnic minorities in the ANA, and the number of enlisted soldiers begins to decrease. Divisions deployed to the Iranian border are recalled to Kabul, functionally ending the presence of the ANA outside of the capital. Karzai, under extreme pressure from the weakening economy, political turmoil, and increased violence in the south, calls for a nationwide Jirga in an attempt to resolve the standoff.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Kabul
July 17th, 2015

It was a hot day even by Kabul's standards; the cracked asphalt in the streets radiated heat upwards, creating semi-visible waves of heat. The weather report said 90 degrees, but the unfortunate combination of stale air, ubiquitous dust, and the hundreds of unwashed men crowding the roads made it feel closer to 120. The difference was academic to Ahmad Zia Massoud, who was spending most of his energy on preserving his outward appearance of enthusiasm. Between hugs and handshakes, his suit had become stained not just with his own sweat, but with the sweat (and other bodily fluids) of hundreds of his fellow protesters. At first he had tried to save his suits from the crowds, avoiding contact as best he could, but he had come to realize that the solution was not to avoid damage to the expensive suits, but to buy cheaper suits. This strategy was working well as Massoud neared the makeshift stage that had been cobbled together despite several stern warnings that domestic demonstrations were forbidden on this Friday. In fact, according to the last edict issued from Karzai's presidential palace, all demonstrations were forbidden on Fridays, the traditional day off for Afghan workers. The government's heavy-handed attempt to clamp down on protests in the capital had backfired, though. If the demonstrations themselves were already illegal, and subject to police crackdown, then there was little preventing the protesters from becoming violent or acting out in other illegal ways.

As Massoud looked to his left, he realized that the men around him had come to exactly the same conclusion, in a less elegant and theoretical way. The men had begun hurling rocks through store windows, and had also begun to loot every store with broken windows. The disturbances started small, but quickly started growing out of control as other men feared being the only ones without free stuff from the stores around them. Inside the stores, store owners reacted in a hundred different ways, as they always did. Some dove under tables, hiding from the increasingly violent mob. Some stepped out from behind counters to scream at the protesters, shaking their fists as their faces grew red. Some simply stood by, veterans of hundreds of such robberies. But one reacted in a different way than usual.

Every Afghan citizen is allowed, by law, to own one firearm, so long as they are registered, a byproduct of American occupation. Not a single gun had been registered since American troops had withdrawn, except as another tool to extort money from those under the government's rule. This particular shopkeeper, they found out later, had actually registered his weapon under one of the American registration efforts in 2011. It mattered very little when he fired at the protesters advancing towards his store.

The gunshots rang out in a city that had experienced a perverse peace for the last several years. With the Taliban and Haqqani Network focused on fighting each other in Pakistan and in the southeast, terrorist attacks had fallen off, and there hadn't been any major loss of life in more than two years. The shopkeeper shot three protesters before anyone, including Massoud, realized what had happened. Four more were shot before anyone could react, including two that had completely ignored the looters. By the time that anyone could fire back at the shopkeeper, Massoud had been pushed down by his guard. He never saw the shopkeeper. Gunshots started coming from multiple directions, as Massoud's guard was joined by other protesters exercising their right to carry a weapon in plain view.

The Afghan National Police units that had been monitoring the already-illegal protest never saw the shopkeeper, nor did they see many of the protesters shot. In fact, the ANP hadn't even noticed the looting that had taken place; their job was to intimidate the protesters with a show of force in their pristine uniforms with their American-provided M16s. Eventually, they were to break up the protest in the traditional Afghan manner: with batons and blows to the head. Their job had been accelerated by what appeared to be a mob attacking shops.

The legacy of decades of counterinsurgency was that of a singular lesson for the Afghan National Police, who took greater casualties per capita than the Afghan National Army: shoot first. The police had been largely well-trained in 2012, somewhat trained in 2013, nominally trained in 2014, and now had not received professional training in four years. Their aim was so bad that they likely could not have hit only the armed civilians if they were trying. They were not trying.

The police assault came from both the north and the south, as they had been bracketing the protest from the start. Massoud had been pushed down by his guards when the shooting started, and he climbed to an awkward crouch as ANP shots began raining into the crowd. One of his guards fell next to him abruptly, without so much as a cry. Massoud didn't flinch as he picked up his guard's AKM and scurried towards cover, keeping his head low. He had fought the Soviets in Afghanistan for years, and had seen such sights on a nearly daily basis. He ducked behind a parked car, poked his head out, and assessed the situation around him. There was only one word for it: chaos. Uniformed ANP were firing wildly into the mass of humanity that was slowly evaporating into side allies, buildings, or a growing carpet of bodies on the street. The stench from the bodies literally cooking on the asphalt was overpowering. In the crowd of protesters, several were shooting back at the police, but they were few and far between. Most were simply fleeing as fast as they could.

Massoud ducked back into cover as best he could. Bullets hit the car in front of him, sending sparks into the air. Massoud grimaced, then turned and ran into a side alley. There was nothing more that he could do here, and he would be damned if he let this brazen assassination attempt by Karzai go unavenged.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Malikdin, Ghazni Province
July 20th, 2015

Gul Mohammed Jangvi had no idea what the name of the miserable road was that ran through the city of Malikdin, a tiny city in the small province of Ghazni. The province was notable for very little; a small airport had been halfway set up by coalition forces before they had abandoned the country as quickly as they had invaded in 2001. The airport's one miserable runway was now under the control of drugrunners, who used it to ship poppy out of the country in ever-growing amounts. Another source of money for the Haqqanis, who had apparently used that money to buy-

A shockwave threw Jangvi to the ground, and he finished his thought out loud, with one word: "mortars". The small units were probably as old as the Afghan Civil Wars, or possibly even remnants from the war against the USSR. Whenever they were from, they still were more than enough to kill a man. Another explosion pushed Jangvi off of the ground by a couple of inches, then slammed him brutally back onto the earth, knocking the wind out of him. He crawled back towards his vehicle, a dusty, Soviet-era Jeep, and crawled underneath in search of some cover from the mortar rounds.

The shells didn't drop for long, nor more than a minute. Even the cash-rich Haqqanis didn't have enough funding for a barrage of any true intensity. Jangvi, a veteran of the wars against the Soviets, was used to much worse. He bounced back up after the end of the shelling and dove for cover in a hastily-dug trench. The end of shelling meant that the Haqqani fighters would be following soon thereafter, and he was proved right nearly instantly. The crack of a bullet by his ear made him duck down lower; that sound meant that the shot had come far too close for comfort. He clutched his AKM close to his chest, took a deep breath, and poked his head out from under cover to see advancing fighters headed towards the Taliban positions. He counted as quickly as he could, making out at least eight before ducking back down. He pulled out a cell phone and punched in a number.

"We need cover for a retreat 10 km south of the lake," he said, remaining calm. "I need to get back of the lines."

He ended the call and popped out of cover again to shoot at the closest Haqqani fighter. The fighter, apparently Pashtun, fell with a shout. Jangvi took small pleasure in the victory; it appeared that the Taliban would be retreating again, and the path to Kandahar was becoming ever more clear for the Haqqani.

Kandahar, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan

The Quetta Shura was named for the Pakistani city in which they normally gathered, and where they had been headquartered for more than two decades. Now, the leadership of the Taliban had moved back to Afghanistan, finding it an even safer haven than the capital of Baluchistan. Or at least, it had been a safer haven before the advance of the Haqqanis towards their headquarters. Jangvi was only a field commander, but his report to the Shura had their complete attention. His tunic was still stained with dirt and blood from the battle earlier that day.

"We are being pushed back by superior equipment, superior numbers, and superior enthusiasm," he said, looking towards the group's senior leadership. "Until we are able to regain the advantage in these areas, we are going to continue to lose ground, all the way into Kandahar. I recommend that the Shura move to Helmand in the interim, while our fighters regroup and attempt to make a stand in the city of Kandahar itself. However, it is only a matter of time before the Haqqanis break the back of our forces in the province. I believe that our priority should be to inflict maximum deaths on them before they are able to advance further."

The report was stark in its details, and grim in its implications. Jangvi was waved out of the council chambers after the report without fanfare or thanks. Inside the chamber, there was a brooding silence as the Shura considered its options. After a long pause, the tallest man in the room, in white robes and wearing no patch over a missing eye, finally spoke.

"When we fought Ahmad Shah Massoud, he once said that without the support of Pakistan and Bin Laden, we would be forced to cease our campaign before the end of the year. He was correct. It was only the support of our Arab and Pakistani allies that kept us in the war, and which led to our glorious victory in Kabul. Today, we stand alone against the godless forces of the Haqqanis."

The other members of the Shura focused on Mullah Omar as he spoke.

"We need to reestablish contact with our foreign allies. The 005 Brigade was a major part of our efforts against the infidels of the Northern Alliance in the Civil Wars. By 2001, only 14,000 of our 45,000 mujahideen were Afghan by birth. Today, nearly all of our fighters are Afghan. Only a handful are recruits from Pakistan. Even less come from outside of the area altogether.

"We need to reform the Lashkar al-Zil. We need to turn to the assistance of the foreign mujahideen that left when the Americans turned tail and ran. The shadow army is the only way that we will be able to stop the advances of the Haqqanis."

Omar was referring to the "Shadow Army", a militant group that derived from Osama bin Laden's infamous 055 Brigade. The 055 Brigade was a group of elite, radicalized militants that had been recruited from across Central and Western Asia, and was known for the especially horrific atrocities committed during the Afghan Civil War. Like the vast majority of foreign volunteers, they had left after the end of the American occupation, more interested in conducting global jihad in other areas of the world. They had scattered to everywhere from Yemen to Somalia, and were largely out of contact with the Shura.

Over the next month, the Shura would do everything that it could to reestablish those ties.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Maidan Shar, Wardak Province
July 24th, 2015

Ahmad Zia Massoud could feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins as he looked over the massive crowd in front of him. He could feel their anger as surely as he could feel his own, coursing through him in waves as his amplified voice rolled out.

"They are cowards at their heart," he boomed, pulling his hands to his chest. "They don't have the courage to even face me, and say that they are my enemy. They don't have the courage to be honest, to say that they will stop me at any chance they get. They don't have the courage to face me armed, in a battle. They try to kill me while I am unarmed, without any regard for the consequences or the loss of life for the people around me.

"But worse is that they lie to you. They tell you that it was your fault you were targeted without mercy. They tell you that it was your brother's fault that he was killed in cold blood, despite committing no crime and holding no gun. They tell you that it was your son's fault that he was hauled to a cell somewhere that no one knows, where they do unspeakable things, things which could never be done by a true Muslim.

"They tell you that they respect the rule of the law and the Constitution that they created. They turn around, and they throw that Constitution away, and their laws with it. They say that they respect the rule of the law, but Karzai sits in his palace eight months after he was supposed to leave. He wants you to blindly put him back in his throne, more than 20 years after my brother fought to bring democracy to our people.

"At their heart, they are mice. My brother was a lion. They believe that you are mice. You are lions. They believe that because you are Tajik, because you are Uzbek, because you are Hazara, because you are Aimak, or because you are Turkmen, that you do not deserve to have a part in this government. They believe that only Pashtun may have any authority within government.

"There is another group that thinks that only Pashtun should have a voice in Afghanistan. They are the group that we fought since 1992. They are the Taliban, and they believe that you are so worthless than you may be beaten in the street like an animal. They believe that they are Muslims. They believe that Allah has anointed them leaders of the country. Mullah Omar stole the Cloak of the Prophet from its shrine and desecrated it to prove this point.

"Afghanistan does not believe in this men. They do not believe that the Pashtun are always meant to rule. The Pashtun do not believe that. You do not believe that. Afghanistan does not need a cowardly mouse. Afghanistan needs a lion. Afghanistan needs the Lion of Panjshir. Afghanistan needs me, and Afghanistan needs you.

"You are the pride of Afghanistan. The National Front of Afghanistan is the pride of Afghanistan. When Karzai has joined forces with the Taliban, we need more than a National Front. We need a United Front. You are the United Front. I am the Lion of Panjshir. We will finish the work that my brother started, and we will take back Afghanistan."

With a short, simple speech, Massoud had reignited a war for Kabul that had raged on-and-off for the last 36 years. He confirmed the fears that had existed since the American occupation, that the National Front of Afghanistan was a mask for a renewed militant Northern Front. In the coming days, the National Front would gain the political support of the National Coalition of Afghanistan, led by Abdullah Abdullah, and would become the fourth faction in a two-front civil war.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Kota, Samangan Province
October 4th, 2012

Mohammad Mohaqiq had not led troops since 1989, when he was only 34 years old. He was 60 now, but the fire hadn't died in the pit of his stomach, and he was decades wiser than he had been. Before him was the 509th Corps of the National Front of Afghanistan, perhaps the most well-trained and regimented portion of the United Front. The troops were made up largely of what had been the 209th Corps of the Afghan National Army, and had kept its ANAAC attachment of eight helicopters. Four of them were transport copters, and that was where Mohaqiq found himself now.

It was funny, he thought. During the resistance against the Soviets, the helicopters had been one of his worst enemies. Swooping in from the sky with missiles firing, the militants hadn't had any way to defend themselves from the threat until an influx of Stinger missiles from the United States largely grounded the Soviet helicopter forces. Times had changed.

The 509th marched through Kota along the unnamed road towards Bamyan province. The highway was the largest in Samangan, and led conveniently towards central Afghanistan. The 509th were using it to travel south, well to the west of Kabul. Mohaqiq was a veteran not of just the struggles against the Soviet Union, but had also fought in the series of civil wars that followed, notably the first against Pakistan-backed Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar had made the mistake of coming against Kabul from only one angle, and his armies had been broken at the gates by Ahmad Shah Massoud, though they took half of Kabul with them. The United Front would not be making the same mistake.

While the 509th marched from the west, the 503rd and 505th would be advancing from Panjsher into Parwan towards Bagram Air Base, the heart of the GIRoA power near Kabul. This offensive would likely draw the attention of all of the Kabul-based defenses of the ANA, as the loss of Bagram would cripple their ability to resupply with Mazar-i-Sharif already taken by NFA forces. Mohaqiq was banking on the Haqqani forces to the east of Kabul acting as the anvil to his hammer, trapping Karzai's forces and allowing them to be destroyed without a prolonged fight for the west of the country.

For now, the 509th was less than a week's march from Kabul, and wouldn't be stopped by any of the retreating ANA forces in time. The plan was in motion; it was up to Karzai to determine if it would work.

Kabul, Kabul Province
October 7th, 2015

Abdul Rahim Wardak continued to serve as Minister of Defense even after Karzai should have been forced out of the office of the President by Constitutional restrictions. His doubts over his choices surfaced from time to time, but never stopped him from doing his duty. He believed strongly that Karzai was the only figure in Afghanistan that could unify the country enough to drive out the Taliban; the naivety shown by this "United Front" in thinking that the Pashtun could be completely left out of governance showed that they believed in dividing Afghanistan, not uniting it.

During the war against the Soviets, he had fought in Wardak province; confusing, with his name. General Wardak now looked at a map, with his brigades carefully laid out. He wished that more brigades weren't marked with the red of understaffing; the recent desertions hadn't been all political, and many of the disinheartened troops had simply refused to move with their brigades towards the capital. He couldn't being to guess how many, in Kabul and elsewhere, would simply refuse to fight when the time came. The only troops that he could truly rely on were the ANA Special Operations Command, but the group held less than 10,000 troops. Left to defend thousands of miles against three hostile groups, he was less than confident in his abilities.

The Afghan National Army Air Corps (ANAAC) was doing its best to provide reports on the strength and locations of NFA forces, but had failed thus far to ascertain where exactly they were. However, they had done enough to find a massive grouping headed towards Bagram Air Base. He didn't know where the rest of the forces were, but he had learned during the struggle against the Soviets that there were always unaccounted-for troops. He needed to focus on what he knew, or he would lose Bagram and Kabul with it.

He studied the forces in Kabul, which he had reformed as best he could, into one massive 3rd Army. It was listed along the side of the map next to Kabul:

3rd Army, Kabul (24,000)
HQ Battalion: 600
1st Brigade: 3600
2nd Brigade: 3600 (mechanized)
3rd Brigade: 3000
Special Security Brigade: 3600
Commando Brigade: 4200
Special Forces Brigade: 3600
QRF Brigade: 1800

His QRF Brigade would be leading the way to Bagram in an attempt to set up fortifications, along with the mechanized 2nd Brigade. That would leave the Air Field with 5,400 defending troops, against an oncoming force of nearly 20,000. He was not encouraged, and knew that he would need to follow the defending troops with the Commando and Special Forces Brigades, bringing his defenses around the Air Base to 13,200. They were the only troops that could get there in time, and he suspected that they would not be able to hold the air base for long. Sighing, he moved the 1st Brigade to a position between Bagram and Kabul. This left a delaying force, but only 7,200 in Kabul itself, left to defend against any emboldened Haqqani forces. It would have to do.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Charikar, Parwan Province
October 10th, 2015

The new Lion of Panjshir was back in his den, thought Ahmad Zia Massoud as his forces moved into Charikar proper. They had faced little resistance on the way down, and helicopter reconnaissance indicated that Karzai had moved most of his forces directly to Bagram to defend it. In fact, most reports placed the number of troops, some of them the elite Special Operations Command, at nearly 13,200. 13,000 troops in entrenched positions with good training and morale would likely defeat the 20,000 militants under Massoud's command, and he knew it. It would have been a huge problem if he had been marching on Bagram at all.

The fact that his troops were moving through Charikar was not enough to tip off his plans to Karzai, but instead was enough to make him look like a fool. A more indirect approach to Bagram, the logical target in the opening stages of an invasion from the north, would come in heading east from Charikar, and moving on Bagram from the less-well-defended north. If an army were to march through Charikar and continue south, it would appear that they would have to march on Bagram from the west, facing the strongest entrenchments and defenses, many left by the Americans after their flight from the country years ago.

Massoud counted on looking like a fool to the defending forces. He had spent time in command of mujahideen forces during the struggle against the Soviets, but other Afghan politicians were fond of pointing out that the later part of the struggle had been spent in diplomacy with Pakistan. They accused him of being a glorified politician without military command, and they weren't far from wrong. What his time in the mujahideen had taught him was that the best course of action that any military leader could take was one that relied on those with more experience. Experience was one thing that the National Front had in abundance; his fellow militants were veterans from the war against the Soviets, from the wars of the early 90s, from the war against the Taliban before the Americans' arrival, and from the war against the Taliban with the Americans. There was not just one, but in fact many commanders with experience in 35 years of nearly consecutive war. Say what you will about the recent Afghan history, but it had produced some of the most shrewd strategists in the world.

The turning point, the point at which there could be no doubt that the deceptively-named Bagram Army of the NFA would not be headed for Bagram after all, would come about eight miles down the road, when the road to Bagram met Highway A76. Any army marching to Bagram would have to turn at this point, while any army headed further south would remain. Massoud didn't plan on giving Karzai indication of his true motives until the morning; his troops would set up for the night at the junction itself, and make all efforts to look as if they were preparing to march on Bagram the following day. Bagram was, after all, only six miles from the junction.

Bagram Air Field, Parwan Province
October 11th, 2015
0800

The Afghan Air Force had been a joke for the last three years. When the Americans pulled out without warning and without any continued foreign aid for the Afghan government, all of their contracts for future acquisitions went with them. Their planned acquisition of Brazilian trainer/attack planes, gone. Their planned acquisition of more Mi-17vs, gone. Hell, most of their respectable Air Force, left by the Soviets, was gone in the first wave of air strikes by the Americans in their initial invasion. It took only a year and a half after the frantic departure of the Americans for the government to just give up on it and fold the Air Force back into the Army as the Afghan National Army Air Corps.

Well, fuck it, thought Colonel Mohammed Bahadur Raeeskhail. He would work with what he had, which was a bunch of old Mi-17s. Well, not a bunch. In fact, he was down to about six that were actually in working condition, and most of them weren't particularly well-working at that. It was with that thought that he watched the two Mi-17s take off, flying towards known NFA positions. They would launch harrying attacks against positions before returning to report on troops positions, which would let defending troops prepare for the upcoming assault on Bagram. They had been running these harrying missions for nearly a week, and it had been relatively easy to follow the troops down A76. This time, they would simply head down the road to the intersection with A76, meeting the NFA along the way.

Mi-17 Reconnaissance Squad
October 11th, 2015
0915

"Well, fuck," said Junior Captain Mohammad Guntaz. "Still no sign of them, and we're pretty much out of fuel here."

The squad had flown up the road and circled in increasingly wide circles in an attempt to find the encamped NFA positions. When that had failed, they assumed that the cowardly forces of Massoud had retreated into the Panjshir Valley, and had moved up to the valley to investigate. They had found nothing, and the thick air in the mountains, along with their heavy weapons payload, had drained their fuel quickly. Now they were forced to return without news on the whereabouts of the armies, and without any results.

The helicopters finished their loop through Panjshir and swooped back towards Bagram. Silence reigned over both choppers as they swept in an arc back towards the helicopter landing area; to call them pads would be incredibly generous. It took only a couple minutes for the news of their unsuccessful scouting to reach the upper levels of ANA command. It took an hour for the ANAAC command to order another armed reconnaissance.

This time, they spread out from the start, and attempted to fly in expanding circles a second time. It went wrong from the start; a fuel spill grounded the fourth helicopter, so the three went up in a formation they were unused to. Considering the fact that most of the pilots had only gone up in the air twice in the last three months, it would be a much bigger challenge than imagined.

It took only three circles of looking for two of the helicopters to get off course. This was no surprise, and the pilots took it in stride. When Junior Captain Guntaz's radar lit up with a contact, he chuckled. Even by their standards, they were far off course, nearly 50 km by his estimates. He didn't realize how wrong he was until four 57 millimeter rockets flew at his cockpit, and flames erupted everywhere. He didn't have any time to report to anyone that the NFA had its own Mi-17s in the air.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Kabul, Kabul Province
October 12, 2015

Coughing, he ran into the best cover he could find, a shot-up Humvee sitting in the middle of the street. The noise around him was cacophonous, with rounds being fired seemingly nonstop even though the fighting was supposed to have ended already. Dust flew into the air as a mortar round landed near him, sending a wave of pressure through the air that smacked him into the car and sent him, nose bleeding, back onto the ground. He spit the warm, salty blood out of his mouth, and duck-ran towards a nearby building, hiding behind its wall. Squinting through the thick dust (which was mostly shit from the animals, or the parts of the animals which were now sadly deceased), he looked at the sign. He recognized the store, and that sent him running down the street a different way. Here he recognized homes and streets; the houses were nicer, in a sense. Everything was relative here in Kabul.

He slid along the facades of the houses carefully, but the firefight was a ways to the east. It took him a short while to reach the house he had been headed towards, but he made it. He took a minute to look around, doing his best to not look as furtive as he felt. The door opened a crack, and a tall, solemn-looking man stared at him through the crack. It took the man a couple moments' staring just to recognize the dirt-covered figure outdoors. When he did, his eyes widened briefly in surprise before he pulled the door most of the rest of the way open, and then dragged the shit-caked man inside.

From there, the dirty man was whisked quickly to a spiderhole reminiscent of Saddam Hussein's. He would have to wait there for a while as things calmed down, but one thing was enough: Hamid Karzai was alive, and free.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Kandahar, Kandahar Province
January 3rd, 2016

The Quetta Shura usually looked more grim than it did on that particular day. The news from the stagnant front with the Haqqanis was good; their now battle-hardened fighters had been able to seize a couple more miles, pushing the invading forces well outside of Kandahar province. For the first time in months, the capital of the province and the control of the Taliban was safe from Haqqani mortar fire. The spirit in the room was optimistic, and the opinions in the room pointed towards a more aggressive advance. Mullah Omar, at the head of the council, looked more cautious.

"We made these gains because we were able to recruit and to use our resources wisely. If we throw away the recruits by killing them en masse, and we waste our resources, then we will quickly find ourselves where we were just a few months ago. What you are asking is not yet within our power; for now, we must gather our resources, train our recruits and then to take the fight to the enemy. To do anything else would be to go against the will of Allah."

There was grumbling from the other members of the Shura after the pronouncement.

"I don't see why we have to wait until everything is perfect to push back the infidels," said another member, sitting across the room from Omar and glaring back at him. "It is cowardice to say that we cannot push them back, and near blasphemy to say that it is Allah's will for us to succumb to their wishes."

Mullah Omar had been looking at the table in front of him, evidently tired. After the challenge from across the room that made him look up, he looked more angry than tired. He had been facing increasingly aggressive challenges from the Shura, and he was growing weary of the insubordination.

"I did not realize that it was up to you to interpret the will of Allah. I did not realize that you had been selected by Allah to carry out his will here. You must excuse me for my absence at these announcements that you made while clothed with the Cloak of the Prophet.

"Look at the information that is in front of you. We have reached a parity with the enemies, not an advantage. We have gained ground and we have lost in the past weeks. If we try to press this without using our victories to build our strength, instead of wasting it, we will be destroyed. We have sacrificed too many lives to be so cavalier with even more. If you wish to do so, you can sacrifice your own for the struggle."

It was enough to silence the room for now, but Omar knew that they would continue talking behind his back. The downside to leadership was that he would be resented at time by those that desired his post. The downside to wise leadership is that those that desired his post would seem to be right at least some of the time. He would have to hope that he would be able to retake the offensive before the grumblings turned into something worse.

Nari District, Kunar Province

It had taken Hamid Karzai months to reach what the Americans had once called "Enemy Central", or, if they were in a less-PC mood, "Indian Country". Kunar province had been the home of every insurgency in the country since the wars with Britain in the 1800s. The entire province was full of mountains, caves, and anything else that was generally helpful to someone that didn't want to be found. This certainly applied to Karzai and his less-than-merry band of travelers, which numbered less than twenty. They were pretty close to their goal; once they reached the border with Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunka, it would be nearly impossible for the Haqqani, the Taliban, or the NFA to find him.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Nari District, Kunar Province
January 10th, 2016

Hamid Karzai had reached the Pakistani border, and though the region was riddled with large swatches of unguarded crossings, he decided that he would go to the border proper. By the time he and his group of 14 reached the border crossing outpost, they were covered in dust, dirt, and less pleasant matters. No matter how much dirt they were covered in, and no matter how much they stank of their long voyage, they still had conclusive paperwork proving that it was, in fact, the leadership of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Karzai approached the outpost.

"I'm President Hamid Karzai, and I am requesting asylum from the Republic of Pakistan."

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Kandahar, Kandahar Province
January 21, 2016

Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul had been the senior commander of the Taliban's military efforts to oust the Americans since 2010, and he had gotten damn good at his job. During his time in command, IED placement has increased massively, bold attacks against the American-held fortress of Kabul had increased, and he had eventually scared the cowardly, chicken-like Ron Paul out of the country altogether. It was at that point that things had gone wrong for Rassoul. First, he had been "promoted" out of command of the Taliban's military, with Mullah Omar claiming that his "hit and run" leadership was no longer consistent with the conventional war with the Haqqanis. Relegated to some "leadership" role interpreting Qaranic passages for the Taliban's purposes, he had been systematically pushed to the edges of the Quetta Shura, and now carried little of his former sway.

He knew, however, that he still had his allies in the Shura, and that the time for him to regain his power was fast approaching. It was Rasoul that had been accused of "hit and run" leadership, but it was now Omar himself who was so cowardly with his advances. They had all the advantages against the godless Haqqanis, but Omar still led them nowhere. They had been trapped on the defensive for months and months, and now Omar was content to let the Haqqanis hold Taliban land, where they failed to enforce even the most basic codes of morality on the inhabitants. No doubt Allah was displeased with Omar's leadership. No doubt Allah, in fact, wanted the leadership to change altogether.

One advantage of being in charge of the troops for so long is that he knew what motivated them most strongly.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Kabul, Kabul Province
February 22nd, 2016

Ahmad Zia Massoud did not have time to wait for the United States to send mortar rounds to the National Front. He still had no idea where Hamid Karzai was, and the more time that he gave the ANA to dig in in the west, the less his advantage in numbers would matter. If he moved now, he should still be able to surprise them with just how many helicopters he had salvaged from Bagram after the ANA had fled.

Until then, the NFA would be able to move without too much fear of being noticed; Afghan satellite surveillance was notoriously unreliable. The NFA's assault would begin with him; his Mi-17s would form the first wave, and would attempt to knock down every line of defense that the ANA had set up. After that, it would be up to the armored elements of the NFA to push through, and to wipe out the remnants of the ANA.

But that wouldn't be enough; many of the troops that had stayed with the ANA were the elite Commandos trained by the Americans before they had fled in 2012. The master coup of the stroke was what the Mi-17s would do after dropping their ordinance; a flurry of pamphlets would be dispersed over the enemy lines with three key messages: First, that Hamid Karzai was dead; second, that the helicopters were the first of many; and third, that anyone that surrendered would be granted full amnesty. With any luck, it would cause more of the commandos to surrender than to join any nascent insurgency. And if not, the death of Hamid Karzai should at least keep them from fighting too hard.

Zaranj, Nimruz Province

Hamid Karzai's voyage to the Pakistani border had been exhausting, and ultimately unfruitful. He had stalled at the border post for nearly a week, waiting for a response, and had gotten no sort of response from the Pakistani government. It had left him with two choices; move through the porous Pakistani border, or move to another country. He had chosen the latter, and now he was here, on the Iranian border. At this border post, he would not ask for sanctuary, but simply safe passage. His next stop was Turkey.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Kabul, Kabul Province
April 3rd, 2016

Abdullah Abdullah watched the progress around him happily. The Afghan government hadn't bothered to spend most of its tax revenues past what was absolutely necessary in the last few years. Without the supervision of the Americans, the Karzai government had used the money for itself; bribing warlords, paying off Taliban contacts, or simple graft. Now, that money was being used to help the people of Afghanistan again; heavy fighting vehicles had been converted into makeshift bulldozers in many places, helping both reconstruction, and, for the first time in many years, new construction efforts. Spending this year was set to increase by nearly $200 million, as the government withdrew from long-dormant accounts held by the Karzai family, stocked with Afghan taxpayer money.

While Kabul was the epicenter of the rebuilding process, it extended throughout the territory held by the NFA, the new fighting forces of Afghanistan. Major cities throughout the area were being built up carefully by the FTAA, using the money to focus on infrastructure, but also spending it on loans to local businesses which needed to rebuild or upgrade. The effects were insignificant economically, and would be for another couple of months at least. But the effect on morale was high - people who previously paid money to the ANA and ANP in their districts for "protection" were released from these constraints, under the strict supervision of Ahmad Zia Massoud's generals. Massoud's reputation for fairness was a key part in this, as was the legacy of his brother, but the best thing that he had done to insure that the corruption would not overtake the NFA was simply to make sure that the troops received their pay on time, and without theft by superior officers.

For now, the spirit of rebuilding Afghanistan was keeping graft in check throughout the country; the leadership of the three major ethnic groups was strict in keeping it in check, and the results that they were producing were helping reinforce it. In the last two months, more than three hundred stores had reopened in the capital city alone. Throughout the rest of the north and the west, similar improvements had followed.

This was the easy part, though. Abdullah knew that the next step in the process would be much harder: political reform. The parliamentary elections in provinces largely under the control of the government were starting in less than a week. Gubernatorial elections would take place shortly thereafter, with present sitting governors ineligible to hold office again; Karzai's notorious appointments had left most provinces with some of the most corrupt regimes in an already corrupt countryside. The elections themselves were under strict guard, in a careful fashion: Tajik troops guarded Hazara elections, Uzbeks guarded Tajik elections, and so forth. Breaking up voter intimidation could only be done by those without family in the area, and without the risk of shame coming to their tribe. So far, even the regional ex-warlords seemed to have accepted the process, at least for now; perhaps they hoped that they would be able to intimidate the newly elected candidates later.

The biggest threat to the government, from what Abdullah could tell, was twofold, and both from foreigners. The first set of foreigners were the Pakistan-backed Taliban in the south, and their Haqqani on-again, off-again allies. The second was the Americans. In the last Afghan Civil War, before the attacks of 9/11, the Americans had sided with the Taliban against the United Front, conveniently ignoring the brutality of the Taliban forces. They even ignored the fact that they were made up more than 70% of regular Pakistani troops. If the Americans were to intervene without understanding the situation in the country again, it would be devastating for the country. Again.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Kandahar, Kandahar Province
April 6th, 2016
0400

Mullah Omar stood before the Quetta Shura, practically radiating confidence.

"You have all shown extraordinary patience throughout this process," he boomed out to the other members, as well as various observers that he had brought in for the meeting. "I have asked much of you in holding back your forces, in keeping them from driving the despicable Haqqanis, and you have proven yourselves by keeping these forces in check. Now, the time has come where your patience finally pays off, with great victories in the name of Allah. Today is the day that we launch our great offensive against the forces of the Haqqanis, and drive these foreigners out of our country, and reclaim Afghanistan for the Pashtun.

"Starting at 1800, your forces must advance at the same time, across the entire front. We will begin to overwhelm their forces almost immediately, and from that point, our reserves will be able to hit where they are weakest, and crush the resistance once and for all. The Haqqanis worked for us during the struggle against the Americans, and stabbed us in the back. It is time for us to repay them for this betrayal, once and for all. From that point, we will once again be the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan - we will be able to enforce Allah's will on the country, and we will be able to bring Afghanistan back under the protection of the Almighty. We will be victorious."

Dila, Paktika Province
April 6th, 2016
2340

Sangeen Zadran was stunned by the advances that the Taliban had made. He, and just about every other senior Haqqani leader, hadn't thought that the Taliban had access to any cars, let alone the gas to make them useful. But he'd be damned if there weren't technicals pouring through the gaps in the lines, right towards the capital of Dila District, inside Paktika province itself. These advances risked the Haqqani leadership, which was holed up in Sharana, less than 50 km to the north. If the advance wasn't halted, and soon, then the leadership was going to have to move into the mountains in the east, and they would be unable to strike back with the kind of force that the Taliban were using right now.

It took Zadran's forces the rest of the night to halt the advance, but they managed to halt the invaders in the middle of Zarghun Shar District. At the end of the fighting, they were less than 20 km from Sharana. The leadership was going to have to move regardless.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Darulaman, Kabul Province
April 12th, 2016

The "Group of Four" consisted of the four most prominent leaders of the FTAA, and, not coincidentally, the three leaders of the state's military, the NFA. These four men represented the four largest ethnic groups within Afghanistan, but more importantly, represented almost the entirety of the loyalty of the Afghan troops, not to mention the sources of their pay. Like Afghanistan's new parliament, they didn't have a formal place to meet; the Americans' withdrawal from the country had come while India was still helping to construct the new building for Parliament, and the project had been abandoned and later looted during riots following the American departure.

The new plans for governmental buildings were taking place slightly farther away, about 10 miles away from the city center in Kabul. To fit their new parliamentary system, the parliament's building would be a mere 0.8 miles away from the residence of the Prime Minister when reconstruction was complete on their pair of castles. The restored Tajbeg Palace would serve as the Prime Minister's residence, while the Darul Aman Palace, Afghanistan's most famous, would serve as home to the High Council. From what Abdullah Abdullah could tell, the plans were going well; perhaps they might even be ready when the government was, on the anniversary of Ahmad Shah Massoud's death ("Massoud Day", as it had been celebrated), September 9th.

In the meantime, the Group of Four walked with their guards in the foothills under Tajbeg Palace, where the Afghan Royal Family had once hunted. Abdullah imagined that they were less tense than the four men were now.

"We must make a good impression with the international community!" insisted Ahmad Zia Massoud, after whom Abdullah would certainly decline to name a holiday. "If we look like we have lied, directly after an election which is already facing criticism, then our government will be cut off from foreign funding, and we risk Karzai coming back on a wave of foreign support!"

"And we look like fools with our troops," said Abdul Rashid Dostum, always the military man, though often for the wrong side. "If we lose the loyalty of our troops, Karzai won't need a wave of support to throw Kabul into chaos."

Mohammad Mohaqiq remained quiet, watching the proceedings without input. Abdullah found himself wondering what the Hazara leader was thinking, but declined to ask.

"This is the way to look reliable to the international community," Abdullah said, turning back to the angry Tajik and Uzbek leaders. "If Karzai has truly survived Iran, then there will be no preventing the world from finding out that he is alive. I suspect they will be convinced when he, as usual will not be able to keep himself from television cameras."

There was stony silence from the other two, before Mohaqiq surprisingly broke in.

"Abdullah is right; we will only look like greater fools if we do not admit to the truth now. Every military is permitted... distortions of the truth during wartime. The international community will be willing to accept that if delivered properly. We must remember that this is still a popular government, powered by legitimate democratic mandate, and one which has committed no human rights abuses. We are a better government by any standard than the Karzai administration, and it is silly to think that this issue will derail us."

Abdullah was pleased by Mohaqiq's support, though it likely mean more work for him in the future.

"If we properly present this news, with the other announcements that we already planned to make to the international community, then we will not face a backlash from this tiny hiccup," concluded Abdullah.

"We had best hope not," said Dostum. "Soon we will be fighting yet another war. We cannot afford to lose our people now."

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Adraskan, Herat Province
April 18th, 2016

The westernmost holdings of the Taliban were not the desert that people normally associated with Afghanistan. In fact, Herat Province was a population center in Afghanistan; the province was the third most populous of Afghanistan. It hadn't really slowed the advance of the NFA as they roared through the province; it took more than civilians to stop an army.

The NFA had spent the last month and a half slowly recuperating and reorganizing after their victory over the ANA. Ahmad Zia Massoud was happy to leave his seat as a Councillor for a couple of days, to be back where he belonged; at the head of a column of troops. Back in the day, he had thought that speaking to a large crowd was exhilarating, and now he knew just what he had been missing.

Their was little resistance in the province; the Taliban had seemed overly cautious in their advance against the Haqqanis, but now had fully committed. They had no troops left in reserve, confident that the government in the north, which had left them alone since 2012 in an evident ceasefire, would continue to do so. Massoud, however, was not a coward like Karzai, and this advance would do everything to smash the Taliban between two forces; the Haqqani would act as his unwilling anvil in the east while his hammer crushed their rear.

In Herat, they had taken the Herat Airport first, and were working to restore it as best they could. They were trying to move the Mi-17s up, but it looked like it wasn't going to be ready for a couple of days. Massoud wasn't concerned; though it seemed that the Taliban had trucks, he had no reason to think that they would be able or willing to pull their troops abruptly out of the fight with the Haqqanis. It they needed air support, it wouldn't be for many more kilometers into the south.

Their advance didn't halt except to consolidate their supply lines, and it didn't do that until Lashkar Gah, only a couple kilometers from Kandahar Province. It would take them an almost impossibly short 30 days.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Darulaman, Kabul Province
May 21st, 2016

Abdullah Abdullah had been rejected by the international community; he had plead with the United Nations, and they had not even bothered to respond to him. Now he heard that Turkey was holding an international conference to restore Hamid Karzai to power. It seemed that his initial inclination, to work through the United Nations, had been a terrible mistake. Perhaps he should have listen to Dostum, who had told him in no uncertain terms that the United Nations was "toothless", and would be crippled by the "coward" Ron Paul.

Rarely did Abdullah doubt his opinions in favor of Dostum's, but this was one of those rare times.

Their hopes for taking control of their country now lay in the efforts of Ahmad Zia Massoud, whose strike into the heart of Tailban country would have to prove their government's intent to the international community. At this point, the FTAA had been rebuffed by several international organizations; their plea to NATO had gone without so much as a return message. Their plea to the UN had gone without so much as a return message. Their offer to buy mortar rounds from the United States had gone without so much as a return message. They had been warning countries throughout the world that a major terrorist attack was coming. It was all very reminiscent of October 2001.

This time, the United Front was going to take the fight to the Taliban before they could launch their attack, and so far it was working. If it didn't, they risked the United States destroying their government, and leaving the country a mess once again.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Bazar-i-Panjwayi, Kandahar Province
May 23rd, 2016

It had taken the Taliban some time to make their way back from Paktika, and even then it was only their motorized forces. The heavy and medium trucks had come streaming into Panjwayi District of Kandahar, only a couple kilometers to the southwest of Kandahar, and the fighters had begun setting up defensive positions immediately. The regular infantry of the NFA had taken much longer to reorganize, and when it became clear that they weren't going to take Kandahar without a fight, they had taken the time to secure their supply lines instead.

Now, the two forces had finally met in battle.

The NFA had been short on mortar rounds, short enough to request more from the United States, but hadn't realized how dire the situation was for their Taliban counterparts. The Taliban used their mortars only when they saw an extremely dense cluster of troops, and refused to use them for any other purpose. This let the NFA use their mortars to full effect; counterfire against the Taliban mortars, barrages before attacks, and just regular covering fire to force the Taliban to keep their heads down. Better yet, they could use them to target the very trucks that the Taliban were using to reinforce positions. The Taliban, used to fighting the equally-poorly equipped Haqqani Network, usually didn't bother to fire on vehicles, and the Taliban weren't used to shutting down or hiding their trucks.

Throughout the city, trucks burned, targets of NFA mortar fire. It took the Taliban an hour to distribute the order to get people out of the trucks, and they had already taken heavy casualties in the meantime. Their defenses were also being targeted; wherever they had dug in, mortar fire followed, and their fighters began retreating in disarray. That was when things got really bad.

The Taliban had relatively little experience fighting as a conventional army, having only stepped into that role in 2012. In fact, Taliban commanders at that time had already been skeptical that they would ever be able to take Kabul against the much stronger ANA; they believed that the fight against the Haqqanis would be the last time they would operate conventionally for some time. Their victories against the Haqqanis had erroneously convinced them that they were good at it.

When the Taliban retreated in disarray, the NFA proved what well-trained and well-organized troops could do with the right equipment. The 3rd Armored Brigade swung around behind the city, having stayed out of the earliest part of the battle. Their armament had been mostly changed; while some vehicles retained the one grenade launcher, one machine gun setup, others had dual machine guns. They opened fire on the troops retreating in disarray, and a rout turned quickly into a slaughter. While the retreating troops were being gunned down, the infantry, well-rested after their 10 days of holding their positions, moved in on the defensive positions. The Taliban lines crumbled as the better-armed NFA forces came in covered by SAWs and sniper fire, which had better range and effectiveness than the old AKMs used by the Taliban. Slowly, the Taliban forces were crushed by the two incoming forces - those that attempted to retreat were gunned down by IFVs, and those that held their posts were slaughtered by snipers and mortar fire. By the time the NFA took the city, there was little opportunity to surrender for the Taliban. In the end, they took only a handful of prisoners. The joy of victory faded as they looked at the bodies piled up in the streets. It was hard to be happy at a time like this.

One fact, though, became obvious: the road to Kandahar was clear.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Kandahar, Kandahar Province
May 25th, 2016
1700

Ahmad Zia Massoud's worst nightmare had been that the Taliban infantry forces would be able to make it back to Kandahar before his forces would have enough time to regroup and strike at the headquarters of the Quetta Shura. Luckily for him, that particular fear had not been realized - his forces had managed to reorganize in only a day and a half, and the short drive to Kandahar had commenced. The defenses in the city were light, as the Taliban had strategically committed as many forces as they could to the battle in Bazar-i-Panjwayi, understanding that the city was the true gateway to Kandahar itself.

When his forces entered the city, it was a sight much different than any that had existed during the American occupation. The women of the city were universally veiled, and universally escorted by men. Men in the streets walked without the use of a hand or a finger, clearly victims of Taliban justice in one of the last months. Women occasionally walked hunched over, the result of brutal public beatings that were regularly carried out by the Morality Police of the Taliban during their years in charge of the city.

Even the unusually religious Pashtun of Kandahar seemed to have no appetite for this level of brutality. The citizens in the street walked with their eyes down, showing no interest in resisting the armored fighting vehicles that rolled down the streets. There weren't even any ambushes, no planted IEDs - in fact, in several cases NFA fighters were warned of the location of IEDs by local civilians, who evidently hoped that turning in the sites of the explosives would earn them favor with the invading forces. They were probably right to think so.

Massoud watched the action from a distance, sitting in a M777 command vehicle. He listened to the reports coming in from his commanders in the field with grim apprehension; while there was little insurgent resistance now, he knew that it would be coming if they didn't capture the Quetta Shura before they fled to Pakistan or further east in Afghanistan. A truly desperate Taliban leadership was capable of continuing an insurgency indefinitely, though it would never amount to anything without the support of the Pakistanis. If the Turks had their way, from what he heard, the insurgents would be most aided by their favorite ally: Hamid Karzai.

A sharp wind almost blew the cover off of Massoud's head. He looked up to see a pair of Mi-17s soar by at high speed, towards Kandahar, mentally thanking the British for the high quality work they had done at Camp Bastion, less than 50 kilometers away. They had left the base in good shape when they left, probably surprised by the speed of their own departure thanks to President Paul's "surprise". The helicopters, in the meantime, had an altitude that was dangerously low, and he made a mental note to discipline the pilots. It was all well and good to look carefully for the Quetta Shura, but a downed helicopter was a major loss of momentum. The Americans could attest to that, as could the Somalis.

As he began to duck into the cupola to talk to his radioman, the sound of rocket fire from the helicopters caused him to look back out. It appeared that the helicopters had opened fire on the highway leading out of Kandahar - he had given express orders to fire on any fleeing convoys. It was time to see if this policy would pay off, or if they had just killed dejected citizens, trying to flee yet another invasion of their city. He hoped for the former.

May 25th, 2016
2200

Massoud walked briskly towards the wreckage of the cars, which were being watched by NFA fighters. They didn't salute as he walked by, a sign that their training and battlefield experience was finally kicking in. No point in showing a Taliban sniper who was an officer and who was not. As he walked towards the wreckage, a major walked briskly beside him.

"As you can see, the pilots got off several good shots and disabled the vehicles. They reported no fleeing enemies, but stayed in the area to observe just in case. They left when troops arrived in HUMVEEs."

Massoud nodded. "Who else has observed the remains?"

"The troops were excited," said the major, "so they called over several others. I'd say about 50 have seen the body directly, but everyone knows about it."

"Fine," said Massoud. "There was no point trying to hide this one anyways. Make sure that before the body is cleared, some civilians 'accidentally' see it. After the fake Karzai death disaster, I want rumors spreading beforehand that he's actually dead."

The major nodded, and waved one of his subordinates over to pass along the order. The three men arrived at their destination while he was still giving his instructions. As they came to a halt at a body halfway out of one of the trucks, the major swatted some flies out of his face.

"You know, they used to say that the Taliban would fight as long as Mullah Omar commanded it," he said.

Massoud pushed the body over, looking at the face of the tall, one-eyed man. "Then I guess they're done fighting."

[Tajikistan (Fish)]

Q2 2016, Dusti Railway Station

Connected to the railway network and not far from the Afghan border the small township of Dusti was of key strategic importance. As standard the 53rd Battalion was stationed in the city with sub-units, and those of the remainder of the 5th Brigade stationed along the main section of the Afghani border. With the developing crisis additional units had been drafted in from 44th Infantry Division’s Third Brigade including the 31st Battalion which would immediately move forward and establish itself along the border. Accompanying this force would be air force support in the form of several Iranian 2061 helicopters and assets from the 72nd Special Warfare Group.

An unorthodox rabble of a variety of specialist units the 72nd SWG was a valuable asset at Army command who knew that individual battalions and companies varied greatly across the army, especially since the rapid changes of late incorporating new equipment and the like. The two branches primarily on this deployment would be specialist Recon units who would monitor know passageways along the border from both sides of the border and a dedicated liaison unit for the Afghani government.

Moving around Afghanistan with its present instability would be difficult so the decision had been made simply to travel as far as the City of Kunduz, capital of Kunduz province the main administrative division bordering Tajikistan. There the unit would meet with the Tajik Ambassador and his staff who had already fled Kabul due to the violence and had found temporary accommodation in Kunduz to liaise in regards to border cooperation. The military unit would provide security to them as well as offering military advice to the civilian Ambassador. If needed they would have the responsibility of coordinating a further evacuation back to Tajikistan itself; as well as transmitting any relevant intelligence to the command body.

The six manned team was considered by those on the military command body who were actually soldiers, as opposed to the many political appointees, to be one of Tajikistan’s best. Major Karim had several years of combat experience, spoke several regional languages include both Persian and Arabic, and had experience in difficult situations. His deputy Warrant Officer Nariman had been with him for much of this and had been handpicked for his unit alongside the four Special Forces trained soldiers that would accompany them. Their mode of transport would be the Army standard Tigr HMMWV which had been imported in substantial numbers from Russia to outfit light infantry units.

As the rumble of trains echoed in the background the Major quickly moved out from the command post over to the vehicle where Nariman was checking over their cargo as Amoli briefed the other three of their positions before moving over to consult with the Major and Warrant Officer as to their route, and planned detours if required, to get them to the temporary embassy. Within half an hour preparations were complete and the Tigr slotted in amongst several military supply trucks and escort vehicles convoying towards the ‘front’.

Arriving in the outskirts of Kunduz they quickly headed for the Char Dara Hotel, currently hosting the ambassadorial team. The moment they crossed the border the vehicle had been at a defensive standpoint, following at a safe distance from agricultural trucks which they used to check for landmines, PFC Mokri manned the machine gun on the roof with Shahidi preparing to support him with his AK should they come under fire. Asadi had the wheel with the others closely monitoring all directions surrounding their transport.

Finding the hotel’s compound did not take too long and they quickly drove in to avoid attracting attention. Along with its secluded location outside the main districts of town its strong perimeter had made it the tactical choice for the Ambassador. Inside the courtyard area there were only a few other vehicles; three older saloon type cars in a neat row and a late model Land Cruiser Troop Carrier four wheel drive in one corner on its own, a man leaning against it smoking.

“That’s their detail,” the Major stated, having been fully briefed on the whole team and the files including profile pictures. The man they encountered though was, after two weeks on the road, looking a little more battered for ware. Pulling up Sahidi and Amoli quickly jumped out and formed a perimeter, Asadi remained at the wheel and Nariman led the Major out, the Warrant Officer having taken out his personal carry over-and-under shotgun.

“It’s good to finally see you,” the Security Guard stated loosening his stance as he moved to greet them, his jacket swinging out to reveal his holstered pistol.
“Likewise. I hope you are packing more than that my friend, things could get rather nasty.”
“Of course, I managed to pick up three old AKs and Mosin in Kabul before we fled – I know a couple of places downtown. They’re not the newest like yours there but they should be reliable. Otherwise the six of us have our old tee-tees should things get up close and personal.”
“Very good, how fit is everyone.”
“The Ambassador’s always kept himself in pretty good shape, and his son’s young fit lad. The three staffers could be of concern but they have gone through their training programs…”
“Keep your head down,” Nariman interjected.
“Hehe, exactly, now if your men have the yard I’ll take you up – one of them is supposed to keep watch so they should be expecting us.”

Upstairs they did indeed encounter an expectant staffer, the rather dishevelled figure clutching his TT-33 tightly. “Go inside Comrade, the Sergeant has this covered,” Karim stated allowing the bodyguard to open the door and let the three in, Nariman giving Amoli a final nod before shutting the door behind him.

[Afghanistan (MTTezla)]

Spin Boldak, Kandahar Province
June 2nd, 2016

Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul had wanted to wrest control of the Quetta Shura from Mullah Omar for some time now, ever since Omar had cast him from his military leadership position into a sideshow interpreting the Qur'an. The conditions under which he always imagined assuming this leadership were better than these. Only two other members of the Shura had managed to escape the hellholes of either Kandahar or Bazar-i-Panjwayi before that, and a mere handful of military leaders had made it out of the latter. It had taken enormous effort to gather them here, halfway to the point of fleeing the country and reestablishing the Quetta Shura where it had been founded - Quetta, Pakistan.

The group was universally shaken by the events of the last several days; when they had heard that an army was coming south, they had assumed that it would be one of the slow-moving, easy to anticipate armies of the American days. Beyond that, they assumed that it was going to be small - after all, if the Taliban were having trouble raising forces, then surely the infidels in the north would. They had been terribly, terribly wrong, and it had cost them dearly.

The decision had been made shortly thereafter that the leadership would flee, leaving the infantry to fend for themselves against the Haqqanis. With luck, after they relocated in Quetta, they would be able to reestablish lines of communication with the troops and lead them into another insurgency, or at least into holding their ground against the advancing infidel forces. Rasoul was not particularly optimistic either way. Perhaps they could convince the Haqqanis to join forces, as they had in the past, to drive back the NFA before resuming their own fighting. Rasoul doubted that too - there was much more bad blood between the two groups than there had been before, and the will to fight Afghans was much lower than the will to fight foreign Americans. It would take a great deal more success by the NFA to convince the Haqqanis to join an alliance again, and by that point, the Taliban might well not exist in any meaningful form.

He sighed as they drove towards the border, which had been abandoned since Karzai had decided that his efforts were best spent in the northwest, and not trying to seal the porous Pakistani-Afghan border. The car abruptly came to a halt as they neared the border though, causing Rasoul to swear loudly at his driver.

The stream of cursing was abruptly cut off as Rasoul's door was flung open, and Rasoul was pulled out of the car before he could grab at the AKM lying on the floor. Flung to the ground, his vision blacked out for a split second, and disorientation set in as his arms were yanked behind his back and tied together with zip ties. When he was recovered enough to figure out that he was being detained, he finally looked at his future captors and saw that they were wearing the uniform of the NFA, which is to say ANA uniforms with the patches ripped off. It wasn't until he saw a transport helicopter slowly lowering into sight that he realized that the NFA had known that they were going to head straight for the border. Once again, he had underestimated the NFA. And it had cost him.