Battle of Jalalabad (1989)

Battle of Jalalabad
	Part of Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)
Date	5 March – end of June 1989
Location	Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Result	Afghan government victory Hamid Gul sacked as head of the ISI; CIA takes on a more direct role; Gulbuddin Hekmatyar drops support for the "Afghan Interim Government"; Battle won without Soviet involvement;
Belligerents
Republic of Afghanistan; Supported by: ; Soviet Union	Pakistan ISI; Afghan Interim Government: Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin; Jamiat-e Islami; National Islamic Front of Afghanistan; Ittehad-e Islami; Al Qaeda (Arab Foreign Fighters) Supported by:; United States CIA;
Commanders and leaders
Mohammad Najibullah; Shahnawaz Tanai; Nur ul-Haq Ulumi ; General Barakzai † ; Mohammad Sardar Bajauri ; Khushal Peroz; Abdul Rashid Dostum ; General Mohammad Ehsan	Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ; Burhanuddin Rabbani ; Ahmad Shah Masoud ; Ahmed Gailani ; Abdul Rasul Sayyaf ; Osama bin Laden ; Ibn al-Khattab ; Hamid Gul ; Mirza Aslam Beg; Commander Nasir Khan
Units involved
Afghan Army 9th Infantry Division 55th Motorized Infantry Brigade; ; 10th Engineer-Sapper Regiment; 11th Infantry Division 66th Motorized Infantry Brigades; 71st Motorized Infantry Brigades; 81st Motorized Infantry Brigade; 11th Tactical Ballistic Missile Battalion; 91st Artillery Regiment; Unknown Mechanized battalion; Unknown Howitzer battalion; ; 99th Missile Brigade; Ministry of Interior: 7th Operative Regiment (Sarandoy); 12th Mountain Battalion (Sarandoy); 8th Border Guard Brigade; 10th Border Guard Brigade; WAD: 904th Battalion; Afghan National Guard: 1st Motorized Infantry Brigade; 37th Commando Brigade; 88th Heavy Artillery Regiment; Afghan Air Force: 355th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment; 377th Helicopter Regiment; 373rd Air Transport Regiment 12th Squadron; ; Revolution Defense Groups	Pakistan: Khyber Rifles (alleged by Kabul); Pakistani Mercenaries; Interim Afghan Government: ; Hezb-I-Islami Gulbuddin: 5 battalions including a mechanized battalion (during the First Battle of Jalalabad Airport);
Strength
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan: 15,000 soldiers.;	Hezb-I-Islami Gulbuddin: 3,300 soldiers.; 11 T-54Ms; 3 BMPs; 2 BTR-60PB; 2 BRDM-2; 55 mortars; 12 howitzers; 79 rocket launchers; Hezb-i Islami Khalis: 500 soldiers.; Jamiat-e Islami: 500 soldiers.; National Islamic Front of Afghanistan: 1,700 soldiers.; Ittihad-i Islami: 1,300 soldiers.; Al Qaeda: 1,300 soldiers.; Jabha-i-Nejat-i-Melli: 1,300 soldiers.; Harakat-i-Enqelab-i-Islami: 1,500 soldiers.; Pakistan: 5,000 soldiers.; Total Estimate: 14,000
Casualties and losses
Republic Of Afghanistan 3,000 killed; 1 Antonov An-26 transport plane destroyed; 2 airport employees killed;	Afghan Interim Government: 5,000–10,000 killed; Heavy losses of armor; Al Qaeda: hundreds killed; Pakistan: 1 killed, 1 captured;
	Civilian casualties:; 12,000–15,000 killed

The Battle of Jalalabad, also known as Operation Jalalabad or the Jalalabad War, occurred in the spring of 1989. It involved the Seven-Party (Afghanistan mujahideen) Union based in Peshawar, also known as the Afghan Interim Government or the "Government in exile", supported by the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, attacked Jalalabad. The ISI's Director Gul wanted to see a mujahideen government over Afghanistan, led by Hekmatyar.

Analysts disagree as to whether Pakistan's Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was totally kept in the dark about the ISI's plan to overturn Afghanistan or was one of the instigators of this attack. One analyst stated that also United States Ambassador to Pakistan Robert B. Oakley was exhortating this mujahideen attack.

The Americans reportedly were motivated by their wish to humiliate the Marxists and send them out of Afghanistan "clinging to their helicopters", thus avenge the fall of South Vietnam; Pakistan wished to establish a friendly government in Kabul that would not back Baloch and Pashtun separatists in western Pakistan. The plan was for Jamiat-e Islami to close the Salang Pass, paralyzing the Afghan Government's supply lines. The plan was to establish an interim government in Jalalabad which would be recognized by western nations as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

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