HEZB-I-ISLAMI – GULBUDDIN HEKMATYAR
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* Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was born in 1947 in Imam Sahib District of Kunduz in North Afghanistan and is an ethnic Pashtu. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar joined the Mahtab Qala Afghan military academy in 1968 but was expelled, due to his political views, two years later in 1970.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar enrolled in 1970 to Kabul University department of engineering. Although he did not graduate Gulbuddin Hekmatyar got the nickname ‘Hekmatyar Engineer’. As a student he was known in his extreme approach toward Islam and for throwing acid on female students who didn’t wear the veil. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was also a member in the illegal Muslim Youth group. In 1972 Gulbuddin Hekmatyar murdered a Maoist student and was sentenced to jail. In 1974 he got amnesty by the new PM Daoud Khan and fled Afghanistan to Pakistan, where he established contact with the Pakistani intelligence – ISI. Daoud Khan advocated the formation of a Pashtu based state, which would include also North-West Pakistan and cause tension with the Pakistani Regime.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was authorized by the Pakistani General Naseerullah Babar, then governor of the NWFP – North West Frontier provinces, and with the blessing of President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, to set up camps to train Hekmatyar’s followers and other anti-Daoud Islamists in order to fight Daoud Khan in Afghanistan. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar also founded in 1975, with ISI in the background, the Hezb-i islami (Islamic Party) which was basically a small neglected group, one of many in the conglomerate of Islamic groups created by the notorious Pakistani Intelligence – ISI.
When the Russians invaded Afghanistan in 1979, radical Gulbuddin Hekmatyar found himself supported by the American CIA with money and weapons in order to use his Militia against the Russians. Indeed Gulbuddin Hekmatyar became one of the most prominent anti-Russians guerilla commanders in the Afghan war, which lasted up to 1989. He was notorious for constantly quarreling with other guerilla leaders and for his large scale drug business.
After the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his militia became major player in the Afghan civil war. He switched sides often and even became twice, for a short time, the Afghan PM in 1993-4 and in 1996. Eventually Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his affiliated alliances where removed from power by the Taliban in 1996. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar fled to Iran where he found refuge up to 02/2002 when he returned back to Afghanistan, after operation Absolute Justice and the toppling of the Taliban.
According to Intelligence sources Gulbuddin Hekmatyar rejected a German-brokered accord in 12/2001 led by Hamid Karzai, to take a major role in the USA imposed government for Afghanistan.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar joined hands, after he returned to Afghanistan, with his former rivals, the Taliban remnants, to regroup the Pashtu insurgency against his former ally – the USA, and became the most prominent anti American guerilla leader operating under the name of the Taliban. He escaped successfully several assassination attempts and UAV drone attacks.
Today (09/2008 Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his Militia emerged as a prominent and dangerous Pashtu insurgence group in North-East Afghanistan and a most wanted fugitive of the USA army.
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