Shura-e Nazar

Shura-e Nazar
Participant in Soviet war in Afghanistan, War in Afghanistan (1989-2001), War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
Major resistance forces against the Soviets 1985 (army-green depicts locations of Jamiat-i Islami. Shura-e Nazar comprised Jamiat but also other groups)
Active	1984 - 2001
Ideology	Islamic democracy
Leaders	Supervisory Council led by Ahmad Shah Massoud and including 130 local commanders
Area of operations	Afghanistan
Opponents	Soviet Union, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Taliban, Al-Qaeda

The Shura-e Nazar (Persian: شوراء نظار‎‎) (known as the Supervisory Council of the North) was created by Ahmad Shah Massoud in 1984 at the northern provinces of Takhar, Badakhshan, Balkh and Kunduz, during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It comprised and united about 130 resistance commanders from 12 northern, eastern and central regions of Afghanistan. Though operating autonomously, Shura-e Nazar was technically an offshoot of Rabbani's Jamiat-e Islami and hence operated within the framework of the Peshawar Seven against the Soviet-supported Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

Although many of the SCN leaders were affiliates of Rabbani’s Jamiat-e-Islami, the SCN established deep ties with local communities and ran its affairs independently from the Jamiat leadership, based in Pakistan. Many former SCN commanders and fighters continue to exert influence and power at various levels throughout the Northern provinces.

In the mid-1980s, in an attempt to prevent rivalry and bring unity to the mujahideen of the northern regions, Ahmad Shah Massoud made a long journey around those regions and subsequently invited representatives from twelve provinces to create an alliance. He succeeded in doing so by creating the Shura-e Nazar (Supervisory Council), which included members of different political parties, ethnic groups and militias from over 130 different commanders. Massoud intended to create a force which could be transformed into a unified Islamic Afghan army to stabilize and rebuild the country after a Soviet withdrawal.

Beside being a military alliance, the Shura-e Nazar also was a political alliance which consequently organized political, health and educational structures. In the regions under his control, Massoud created an autonomous democratically structured administration. This was different from how the other commanders used to control their territory. It enabled Massoud to concentrate on the unification of all resistance forces, while the administrative system allowed the inhabitants of the different regions complete self-determination.