“On 10 October 1996, deposed [Afghan] president [Burhanuddin] Rabbani, [Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah] Masud, [Uzbek warlord General Rashid] Dostum and the Hazara leader Karim Khalili met in Khin Jan [Afghanistan] on the highway and formed a ‘Supreme Council for the Defence of the Motherland’ to counter the Taliban. It was the beginning of a new anti-Taliban alliance that would perpetuate the civil war.”
– Ahmed Rashid, Taliban, Pages 52-53