ABSTRACT
State formation in Afghanistan is conventionally dated to the reign of Dost Muhammad, the first Afghan ruler to see firsthand modern state institutions while a prisoner of war in British India. Following the Soviet withdrawal, Mohammed Ismail Khan captured the city of Herat and began to disarm smaller, qawm- based militias. Mazar-i Sharif in particular was a flourishing city with good roads, electricity, garbage collection and a functional educational system. The years between the fall of Najibullah government and rise of Taliban are referred to by some Afghans as "the time of the gunmen". The Taliban brought greater order to the core areas they dominated, a sharp contrast to the warring militias. At the national level the Taliban devastated what was left of the civil service. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq provided something of a test case for the idea of humanitarian intervention to defend human rights.
