 Some originally came as humanitarian aid workers, while others were escaping criminal charges in their own home countries, or came to be prosecuted for illegally departing to a foreign country and becoming soldiers.They arrived to region of Central Bosnia in the second half of 1992.From that point these fighters operated independently, with little to no coordination with the ARBiH, until winter of 1993-94 
Initially, the foreign mujahideen gave food and other basic necessities to the local Muslim population, who were deprived of such by the Serb forces.