Question: How long did the capture of Mazar-i-Sharif by Taliban forces take in 1998? Passage 1:After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the rivalry between Iran and Pakistan intensified. After 1989, both state's policies in Afghanistan became even more divergent as Pakistan, under Benazir Bhutto, explicitly supported Taliban forces in Afghanistan. This resulted in a major breach, with Iran becoming closer to India. Pakistan's support for the Sunni Taliban organisation in Afghanistan became a problem for Shia Iran which opposed a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The Pakistani backed Taliban fought the Iranian backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and gained control of 90 percent of that country. As noted by a Pakistani foreign service officer, it was difficult to maintain good relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Iran at the same time, given Iran's long history of rivalry with these states. In 1995 Bhutto paid a lengthy state visit to Iran, which greatly relaxed relations. At a public meeting she spoke highly of Iran and Iranian society. However, increasing activity by Shia militants in Pakistan strained relations further. This was followed by the Taliban's capture of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, in which thousands of Shias were massacred, according to Amnesty International. The most serious breach in relations came in 1998, after Iran accused Taliban Afghanistan of taking 11 Iranian diplomats, 35 Iranian truck drivers and an Iranian journalist hostage, and later killing them all. Iran massed over 300,000 troops on the Afghan border and threatened to attack the Taliban government, which it had never recognized. This strained relations with Pakistan, as the Taliban were seen as Pakistan's key allies. In May 1998, Iran criticised Pakistan for its nuclear testing in the Chagai region, and held Pakistan accountable for global "atomic proliferation". New Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif acknowledged his country's nuclear capability on 7 September 1997.
 Passage 2:The son of an aristocratic family, de Hauteclocque graduated from the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, the French military academy, in 1924. After service with the French Occupation of the Ruhr and in Morocco, he returned to Saint-Cyr as an instructor. He was awarded the croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures for leading goumiers in an attack on caves and ravines on Bou Amdoun on 11 August 1933. During the Second World War he fought in the Battle of France. He then became one of the first to make his way to Britain to fight with the Free French under General Charles de Gaulle, adopting the nom de guerre of Leclerc so that his wife and children would not be put at risk if his name appeared in the papers. He was sent to French Equatorial Africa, where he rallied local leaders to the Free French cause, and led a force against Gabon, whose leaders supported Vichy France. From Chad he led raids into Italian-controlled Libya. After his forces captured Kufra, he had his men swear an oath known today as the Serment de Koufra, in which they pledged to fight on until their flag flew over the Strasbourg Cathedral.
 Passage 3:Fort Mercer was a fort on the Delaware River in New Jersey constructed by the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Built by Polish engineer Thaddeus Kosciuszko under the command of George Washington, Fort Mercer was built in 1777 to block the approach to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in concert with Fort Mifflin on the Pennsylvania side. Fort Mercer was located in an area called Red Bank, in what is now the borough of National Park, Gloucester County, New Jersey. The fort was named in honor of Brigadier General Hugh Mercer who had died earlier that year at the Battle of Princeton. The fort's site is now part of Red Bank Battlefield Historical Park, which includes a monument and museum. Several cannons attributed to British warships lost supporting the attack on the fort, and others found buried at the fort itself, are in the park.

Output: 1