ABSTRACT
The civil war in Afghanistan continues unabated with the bulk of the fighting still centred around Kabul. General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the former commander of the Northern Corps, deserted Ahmed Shah Masud (the Minister of Defence) and joined forces with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (the Prime Minister) in his fight against those backing Burhanuddin Rabbani (the President). The threat of Hindu fundamentalism has receded and the Bharatiya Janata Party suffered defeat in five crucial Hindi-speaking states to a new combination of lower-caste and Muslim parties in unusually peaceful elections. In the north-eastern region, while there has been some respite from the insurgency prevalent in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur, inter-tribal rivalries resulted in killings during the year. The provision of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe Vienna Document data exchange returns to the IISS by certain Central Asian states has allowed a more detailed and comprehensive listing of the military forces there than in 1993.
