Incumbents

Mostly unrecognized, controlling about two-thirds of the country.

Internationally recognized, controlling about one-third of the country.

Events

May 24 - Opposition warlord Dostum is ousted from his fiefdom in northern Afghanistan by a combined assault of Taliban fighters and followers of Gen. Abdul Malik, who switched sides to the Taliban. The Taliban forces and their new allies capture Kunduz, Baghlan and Samangan provinces, now controlling 26 of the 32 provinces. Dostum flees to Turkey, vowing to continue his struggle. Malik promises a strict Islamic regime in the northern areas under his control, centred on Mazari Sharif, which was the last major city to hold out against the Taliban. On May 25 Pakistan becomes the first country to recognize the Taliban government. On May 28, however, Malik turns against the Taliban again, and the Taliban are driven out of Mazari Sharif in a bloody battle in which several thousand of them are taken captive.

June 13 - The Taliban leadership names a new foreign minister, Mullah Abdul Jalil, to replace Mullah Mohammad Ghous, who was taken prisoner by opposition forces in late May.

July 24 - Opposition forces come within 20 km of Kabul, within rocket range. Aid workers leave.
July 30 - The Taliban tighten regulations in Kabul, punishing over 700 people for breaking Islamic laws forbidding women from working outside their homes and men from trimming beards.

August 7 - Aid workers return to Kabul, but are hampered by Taliban rules limiting access to women.
August 11 - Following an initiative by the UN special representative in Afghanistan, Norbert Holl, to build a broad-based government, the opposition names a new administration lineup, including Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai as prime minister, Abdul Malik Pahlawan as foreign minister, and Ahmad Shah Masood as defense minister. Burhanuddin Rabbani is to remain as president. The Hezb-i-Islami faction of former prime minister Hekmatyar denounces the new cabinet without any Hezb representation and based in the northern town of Mazari Sharif as designed to divide Afghanistan. In fact, this government is little more than a cover for the northern alliance's military effort to retake Kabul. The reinvigorated northern alliance of Malik's and Masood's forces plus Hazara Shi`ite militias push the Taliban back to within a few kilometres of Kabul.
August 14 - The US State Department ordered the Afghan embassy in Washington closed because of a dispute between Rabbani and Taliban supporters among the embassy staff.^[1]^[2]
August 21 - Ghafoorzai dies in a plane crash. Abdul Ghafoor Rawan Farhadi later replaces him as prime minister.

September 9 - Fighting rages outside Mazari Sharif after the Taliban try again to take the city.
September 20 - Over 70 aid workers and dependants evacuate Mazari Sharif after their premises are ransacked and looted.
September 29 - The Taliban arrest European Union Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs Emma Bonino, EU delegates, and journalists for taking pictures in a women's hospital in Kabul. They are released the same day.

October 14 - Dostum returns to Mazari Sharif from exile in Turkey.
October 26 - The Taliban change the name of the country to Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, underlining the importance of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who is known as amir al-momineen (Leader of the Faithful), although his constitutional position remains unclear. Although controlling about two-thirds of the country, the Taliban have only been recognized by three countries - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates - as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan. Afghanistan's seat in the UN is occupied by representatives of the administration of Burhanuddin Rabbani that has been ousted from Kabul 13 months ago, while the Organization of the Islamic Conference declared Afghanistan's seat vacant.

v t e Years in Afghanistan (1528–present)
16th century	1528	Afghanistan portal
18th century	1729 1738
19th century	1823 1826 1834 1839 1840 1841 1842 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

v t e 1997 in Asia
Sovereign states	Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Burma (Myanmar) Cambodia China Cyprus Egypt Georgia India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan North Korea South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Northern Cyprus Palestine South Ossetia Taiwan
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	British Indian Ocean Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Hong Kong