Hekmatyar

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, originally from Baghlan, is the head and founder of Hezbi Islami. Hekmatyar, who is now in his late forties, first studied at the military academy; then in 1968, he switched to the engineering department of Kabul University. Although Hekmatyar is sometimes referred to as "Engineer Hekmatyar", he never graduated from Kabul University with a degree in engineering. Nevertheless, he is more outspoken than any other figure in Afghan politics. Before becoming a "devout" Muslim and getting into Islamic politics, Hekmatyar spent four years in the PDPA (People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan). The PDPA was the Afghan communist party comprising both Parchami and Khalqi groups. In 1972, Hekmatyar was put in prison for killing a Maoist student. He then fled to Pakistan and founded Hezbi Islami. Historians claim that in 1975, Hekmatyar instigated the anti-Daoud insurrection in Panjshir. Hezb members and Hekmatyar refute his Communist background, and they consider it an insult.

Hekmatyar has been accused by almost every other political party of being a puppet of Pakistan and the United States. The truth is that while he has received numerous aid from the Pakistanis and the Americans, he was always working for himself. He used the Pakistanis and the Americans as they used him. It is also true that he had close connections with the ISI of Pakistan, and that he was extensively trained by them. Pakistani officials at that time described Hekmatyar as being a power hungry, cunning, and a ruthless fanatic who would do anything to be on top. Many of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's detractors believe that Hekmatyar wants Afghanistan to be governed according to his parties ideology, and he will not let anyone or anthing stand in his way. Even though Hekmatyar's Hezbi Islami recieved millions of dollars worth of military and financial aid from the United States, they still failed to liberate Afghanistan from the Communists. In fact, many Afghan political analysts accuse Hekmatyar of killing more Mujahideen members than Communists.

Designation of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as a Terrorist

The U.S. Government has information indicating that Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has participated in and supported terrorist acts committed by al-Qa�ida and the Taliban. Because of his terrorist activity, the United States is designating Hekmatyar as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under the authority of Executive Order 13224. At the same time, the United States will request that the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee include Hekmatyar on its consolidated list of entities and individuals associated with Usama bin Laden, al-Qa�ida, and the Taliban, which would obligate all Member States to impose sanctions, including assets freezes, under UN Security Council Resolutions 1267, 1390, and 1455.


Islamabad, March 14, IRNA -- Much before the arrest of top al-Qaeda man, Sheikh Khalid Muhammad, US agents reportedly conducted an intelligence-gathering exercise in northern Pakistani town of Chitral to locate the venue of a scheduled meeting between Osama bin Laden and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, reports say.

The FBI operatives in the country had got a wind that a secret meeting had been scheduled between bin Laden and Hizb-e-Islami chief somewhere in the Chitral district, according to daily The News.

To this end, a two-member FBI advance team arrived in Chitral from Peshawar, along with the Pakistan intelligence ISI sleuths and went ahead to locate the place of the suspected meeting.

The FBI was fully convinced that both the men had been scheduled to meet there to chalk out modalities for a joint attack against the US-led forces in Afghanistan.

Soon after touching the soil of Chitral, the FBI team, comprised of a male and a female operative, conducted a ground inspection drive to ascertain the suitability of the area for a commando operation to get hold of both their prized catch at the time of their scheduled meeting.

The visiting FBI operators, attired in traditional Afghan dresses, combed various areas in Chitral in a double-cabin black vehicle. But after remaining in Chitral for quite some days, the operation had to be abandoned owing to the failure of the US agencies to trace the venue of the meeting.

It is said that both the men might have crossed over to Afghanistan through Nooristan.

Informed quarters claimed that though the operation had been called off, the FBI was still convinced that both of its wanted men, or at least Hekmatyar, had been holed up somewhere in Chitral.

The FBI team conducted this operation acting on their own information, while their Pakistani counterparts had never been convinced that either of the two men was hiding somewhere in Chitral.

After remaining off the scenes since the capture of Kabul by Taliban in 1996, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar resurfaced in October, 2001, whenthe Taliban regime offered him and other Pashtun Mujahideen commanders like Maulvi Younis Khalis and Maulvi Nabi Mohammadi to join them for foiling the US-sponsored drive in Afghanistan. It is believed that the Pashtun commanders had, in fact, accepted the offer.

Hekmatyar tried to convince the Pashtun community that US-led forces wanted to impose a change on Afghanistan by establishing an alliance between secular King Zahir Shah and the non-Pashtun Northern Alliance.

The US administration has initiated a massive manhunt for Hekmatyar, besides the ongoing pursuit of its most wanted man, bin Laden. Hekmatyar is being termed by the US a very dangerous man. The Bush administration recently ordered the assets of his organization be frozen.

Two weeks back, Pakistan Interior Minister Seyed Faisal Saleh Hayat categorically denied that Hekmatyar was in Pakistan.

HEKMATYAR CALLS FOR HOLLY WAR AGAINST AMERICANS

ISLAMABAD 4 Sept. (IPS) Afghan former prime Minister and hated warlord, Golbodin Hekmatyar, called for a jihad, or holy war, against both the U.S. forces in Afghanistan and ousting the American-installed Hamed Karzai government.

"All true Afghan Muslims know that peace can not prevail in Afghanistan unless the United States and allied soldiers are forced out", Mr. Hekmatyar, a former CIA operative said, in a taped message sent to news agencies in Pakistan.

Mr. Hekmatyar, who is also the leader of the Hezb-e-Islami, made similar anti-American statements late last year, while living in exile in Iran.

After that appeal, he was expelled from Iran under American pressure, Iranian and Afghan sources said.


"In no sense was the United States involved in blowback," said Harvey Kushner, author of Terrorism in America. "We did what we had to do, to bring the Soviet Union to its knees." And that meant enlisting the help of warlords, drug lords and Islamic mercenaries such as bin Laden: "In the real world of international relations, this is what you have to do," Kushner said. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That's how we viewed the mujahedeen, and that's how we view the Northern Alliance now." The United States was aware of rogue agents among the Soviet opposition.

Chief among them was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a known drug smuggler and good friend of bin Laden's with anti-American sentiments. In the 1970s, Hekmatyar made headlines for throwing acid in the faces of Afghan women who failed to wear veils.

According to some reports, the vehicles and Tennessee mules supplied by the CIA to ship arms into Afghanistan were used by Hekmatyar and other drug lords to transport opium and heroin out of the country.

"You couldn't find anybody in Washington who thought we should trust this guy, but he was Pakistan's favorite," said Teresita Schaffer, director of South Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.