On October 12, 1996, rival Afghan military commanders General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ahmed Shah Massoud form an alliance to fight the Taliban and establish a non-fundamentalist government in the nine northern provinces they control.

Three days later, Afghan forces opposing the Taliban open a second front east of Kabul.

On the 16th, leaders of the Taliban meet with General Dostum to discuss broad-based peace talks aimed at demilitarizing the capital of Kabul and the formation of a central government.

On the 20th, The advancing forces of Massoud launch a rocket attack on the Kabul airport.

On the 24th, fighting between the Taliban and rival militias intensifies outside Kabul as Taliban MiG fighter jets attack Jamaat-i-Islami positions north of the capital.
(Source: Washington Report On Middle East Affairs; A Chronology of US-Middle East Relatons)