Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was born in 1947 in district of Imam Sahib, Kunduz province. He was a student of engineering in Kabul University that expelled for political activities. He established the Muslim Youth Movement (nahzat-e jawanan-e musalman) in 1970, joined to Jameiat-e Islami Afghanistan in 1971. In 1979 he made his own party and established the Islamic Party of Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar is leader of Islamic Party (Hezb-e Islami) and was prime minister in Mujahidin government. His party involved actively in Jihad against the Soviet forces in 1970s and received 70 to 80 percent of anti-Soviet assists. Hekmatyar is an extremist Afghan who fought against all the central governments of Afghanistan since 1972, continues today.
Hekmatyar after September 11:
When Taliban captured Kabul in Sep1996, Hekmatyar was against them and went to the north of country and later on to Iran. He left Iran after the fall of Taliban and later stood against Tehran and called it “another Israel against the Islamic nation.”
When America announced the plan of attacking Afghanistan, Hekmatyar objected and said he will be fighting against America and did. He launched several attacks against foreign and Afghan forces across the country. In 2003, the United States called him a global terrorist and acknowledged $25 million reward for his elimination. Hekmatyar is also in black list of United Nations.
In 2013, by Eid-ul Fetr message of Hekmatyar the foreign troops were accused of supporting minor ethnics to dissolve the country. He said Hazaras are under protection from the US and seizing the lands of Pashtuns and warned; the day will come when Hazaras will not have a safe haven in any part of the country and will be having a painful consequence while the foreigners leave the country which will be a lesson for future generations. In 1990s, Hekmatyar and Abdul Ali Mazari were in an alliance and fought against president Rabbani’s government.
Hekmatyar and Peace:
The Afghan state has created the Commission for Peace and Islamic Brotherhood led by Sebghatullah Mujaddadi in 2005, the National Consultative Peace Jirga from 2 to 4 June 2010 and the High Peace Council in 2010 to end up the war and conflicts.
Efforts continued to achieve peace through these councils, as well as by direct contact of government with Taliban and Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar announced the withdrawal of all foreign troops as a precondition of peace talks, something that wasn’t acceptable to government. Once he suggested the 17 point plan in winter of 1390 (2011) to save the country from crisis in which the withdrawal of foreign troops, non-military operations and leaving cities and residential areas by foreign troops have been proposed. Recently the direct peace talks between the High Peace Council and Hekmatyar’s party in Kabul resulted to an 18 article draft. The draft haven’t sign by top officials of the sides yet but there are hopes and sings that Hekmatyar may decide to stop violence and accept peace.
Hekmatyar’s Joining Impacts:
The consequences of Hekmatyar’s joining for the government and people of Afghanistan can be discussed in two levels; national and international.
- National Level:in reference to draft of peace agreement between Hekmatyar’s party and National Unity Government (NUG), historical background, ideas and Hekmatyar’s personality, the consequences of his joining at the national level will be positive and negative.
Positive Impacts in National Level:
- Elimination of Violence:with the fall of Islamic Emirate and presence of international community in Afghanistan, the image and hopes of Afghans were the end of decades of violence in country. But this dream has long remained elusive. Hekmatyar and the Taliban resorted to widespread violence and displayed unimaginable losses.
The Afghan government made great efforts to achieve peace and in this regard the High Peace Council was established in 2010. The complexity of peace with Taliban and Hekmatyar and failures of the Council postponed peace for a long time. Now that the Afghan government and the high-ranking delegation of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar have signed the draft of peace, by final signing and implementation of it the violence will certainly reduce across the country.
- Authority of Government: the government which spends a lot to stand against armed opposition groups, in many case did not have success, the government can gain more authority by persuading Hekmatyar and his supporters to abandon violence and accept peace. A strong government is the requirement of each nation. Afghanistan needs a strong state and government based on the values enshrined in the constitution to overcome the current situation. As much as the forces of armed opposition join the government, the government can focus more on developmental programs and will achieve further authority and legitimacy in national and international levels.
- Saving Huge Resources: the war and continuation of war led to a heavy cost in human, financial and weapons which the government of Afghanistan cannot afford them without the cooperation by international community. By reaching peace, the government can avoid spending lot of resources and will have more achievements by spending saved sources in economic development or focus on war with other armed groups.
Although Hekmatyar did not have a strong role in war and his activities were concentrated mostly on planting mines which took casualties from security forces and civilians. It’s noteworthy that the Islamic Party of Hekmatyar and supporters are significantly active inside the state which resulted to less efficiency of state and challenged it from inside. The peace with Hekmatyar, from plus point, enhances more the efficiency, effectiveness and authority of government.
Negative Impacts on National Level:
- Negative Party Competition: the political parties had possessed military part in Afghanistan plus negative competitions. The issue which caused bloody wars among them. The Islamic Party of Hekmatyar had the most of war and negative competitions with Jamiat-e Islami Afghanistan. Recently, the peace talks with Hekmatyar has been the hot topic in politics, Jamiat-e Islami also made gatherings in leadership level to have more coherent activities. In case, the peace talks end up with positive result the unity of Hezb-e Islami divisions, mobility and coherence of the supporters are highly possible. The said parties and their supporters holding armed individuals and storage of weapons, the issue may return the possibility of civil war era, again.
- Racism Exacerbation: racism makes a bold point of Afghan politics. The Afghan nation still faces many questions. The political parties have ethnic origin and failed to be national. Racism is a serious challenge for the Afghan state and negative/armed competition of parties intensifies racism even more. In reference to historical behaviors of Hezb-e Islami and personality of Mr. Hekmatyar the exacerbation of racism will be intensely possible. The Eid message of Hekmatyar in 1392/2013 can be a strong component of prove.
- Political Fragility: a glance to the past activities of Hekmatyar shows that he did not have comply with any Afghan government. He is mostly familiar with war and conflict than tolerance and political engagement. The proposed peace talks makes possible his contribution to political power in near future. If, Hekmatyar again follows the previous manners, the political fragility will be more imaginable. The negative competition of Hezb-e Islami and Jameiat-e Islami and maybe other parties paves the way of political fragility in the country.
- International Level:
- Hope of Peace Achievement in Afghanistan:The international community in numerous sessions supported the peace and reintegration in Afghanistan under leadership of Afghans, hence allotted huge financial assistants to Afghan state. To achieve peace, many Taliban leaders excluded from black lists and security of Afghanistan considered a common goal of international community. The international community has acknowledged of supporting peace process which affirms the national sovereignty, independence and integrity of the country, condemning violence, cut ties with international terrorism, respects the values of Afghanistan’s constitution such as human rights and women’s rights. If the peace talks with Hekmatyar ends up in comply of conditions drawn by international community consequently, it will create strong enthusiasm of reaching peace with Taliban for international community.
- Higher Prestige of Afghan State:The Afghan governments failed to have enough success on ending war, achieving peace, decreasing corruption, eliminating poppy cultivation and trafficking which constitutes the common goals of international community and Afghan people. The issue highly damaged reputation of Afghan governments to the international community. If peace with Hekmatyar gets accessible, the prestige of Afghanistan in the world will be different than today.
- More Commitments by International Community:in today’s integrated world the insecurity and crisis in a country has direct and indirect effects on other countries. With no doubt, a stable and secure Afghanistan is to the benefit of region and world. In Afghanistan, where the foundations of strong and stable state has been demolished for many decades, the region and world got affected of it.
The international community in numerous meetings and conferences since the fall of Taliban regime pledged to assist Afghanistan with generosity in various fields. The widespread of corruption has caused the international aids do not have much effectiveness. If peace with Hekmatyar in comply to conditions of international community reaches a positive result, the international community will have more and long-term commitment to Afghanistan.
The joining of Hekmatyar’s Islamic Party to peace process is a pleasant and positive step. The government, Afghan people and international community should praise it. Hekmatyar should have the courage to apologize the nation for his past mishaps and surrender the weapons of his groups to government in a transparent process. The government should also collect the weapons still held by other parties. The registration and political activities of Hezb-e Islami Hekmatryar should be secured and he should pursue political objectives through the votes of people in future elections and refrain from armed activity against the people and government.
Middle East News Agency – Kabul, Afghanistan
By Ali Reza Samadi, Lecturer
