Afghans Commemorate Anniversary of Mujahedeen Victory

Afghanistan Wednesday commemorated the 1992 toppling of a Soviet-backed regime, which led to bloody civil war and the rise of the Taliban, as insurgent violence across the country reaped a high toll.

Helicopter gunships clattered over Kabul as the Afghan army staged a 21-gun salute at a sports stadium that the Taliban regime used as a public execution ground during the 1996-2001 civil war.

It was the first public commemoration of the 1992 overthrow since an assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai by gunmen and suicide bombers, in attack claimed by the Taliban, marred the 2008 event.

Thousands of people including dignitaries gathered at dawn at Kabul Ghazi stadium to celebrate the overthrow of the pro-Moscow regime 18 years ago -- and the start of a civil war often seen as starting the Taliban's path to power.

Defence Minister Abdul Raheem Wardak, in green uniform with gold epaulets, told the crowd, who included Afghan soldiers and police charged with taking over the country's security within five years: "On this day the Mujahedeen prevailed over the evil of communism."

WATCH VIDEO: Afghanistan is a mountainous country and a the crossroads for trade. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979 but was forced out in 1989 by the Mujahedeen.

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He criticized the international community -- which helps keep Karzai's government in power -- for not taking seriously enough the Taliban threat after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion overthrew their regime.

Karzai did not attend Wednesday's parade as he was in Bhutan for a South Asian security meeting joined by the prime ministers of India and Pakistan.

As his deputies and most of his ministers took their seats for a series of speeches and military marches, police and soldiers were deployed across Kabul, searching vehicles and setting up checkpoints to prevent attacks.

The Mujahedeen victory in 1992 over the pro-Moscow regime -- just months after the collapse of the Soviet Union -- marked the start of a war that led ultimately to the rise of the Taliban, who filled a security vacuum.

The Islamists took control from their base in the southern city of Kandahar, now one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan and heartland of the Taliban's fight to overthrow the government.

U.S. and NATO troops are ramping up military operations in and around Kandahar city as part of a stealth offensive designed to eradicate the militant threat and allow American troops to start withdrawing as early as next year.

Taliban-related violence in Khost province, bordering Pakistan, saw four Taliban and one police officer killed Wednesday when the insurgents attacked a police patrol, the interior ministry said in a statement.

At the opening of the summit of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Bhutan, delegates were warned that the "wildfire of terrorism" needed to be extinguished at its roots.

SAARC, founded in 1985, groups Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"We will not succeed in our goals until all SAARC member states, without exception or reservation, commit not to shelter or train terrorist networks," said Karzai, who has in the past accused Islamabad of not doing enough to eliminate Taliban operatives based on Pakistani territory.