The group was able to establish the Islamic Emirate of Kunar, an Islamist mini-state in Kunar Province in 1991, but it quickly dissolved after attacks by Hezbi Islami and al-Rahman's assassination in 1991, however JDQ continued to operate.
Founded around 1986 during the Soviet–Afghan War by Jamil al-Rahman as a splinter from the larger Hezbi Islami faction, Jamaat al Dawa al Quran was a Salafi organisation that hosted many Arab volunteers and received funding from sympathetic Saudi and Kuwaiti businessmen.