After the Taliban capture Kabul on September 27, 1996, the non-Pashtun forces, expelled from the ruined Afghan capital, ally again as they did in the Northern Alliance of 1992.

Ahmad Shah Massoud, former defense minister and de facto vice president of the Rabbani government's Islamic State of Afghanistan, becomes military leader of the resistance to the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Rabbani declares Mazar-e Sharif as the country's temporary capital.

Fahim is appointed commander of mujahideen forces north of Kabul.

Massoud, Dostum, Karim Khalji, and Qanooni are participants in the meetings that lead to the creation of the Supreme Council for Defense of the Motherland.