Afghans have lost faith in Pakistan due to the latter’s “impulsive” actions, veteran Afghan warlord Gulbudin Hekmatyar said on Tuesday even as Washington has enlisted Islamabad’s help in finding a negotiated settlement to the decade-old war in Afghanistan.
“In its quest for US favours, Pakistan has alienated the Afghan people and mujahideen. Now Islamabad cannot play any role in stabilising Afghanistan and restoring peace there,” Hekmatyar, the fugitive chief of Hezb-e-Islami insurgent group, told Daily Express in a written interview.
He came down hard on Pakistan for its role in the US-led war against terrorism and said it ignored even its own interests to please the US. “Its controversial policies have antagonised its own people,” he said referring to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan-led insurgency in the tribal regions.
“Today Afghanistan has become the hub of anti-Pakistan forces,” said Hekmatyar. As a result, small groups have come to power in Kabul. “And these groups have the backing of India, Russia and Iran.”
Hekmatyar accused Islamabad of helping Washington to topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan which it had acknowledged as a legitimate government. He also blamed Pakistan for the “massacre of 130,000 innocent Afghans”.
He rejected claims by Washington and Kabul that Pakistan was fuelling the insurgency in Afghanistan.
The warlord said that Osama bin Laden’s death has not weakened al Qaeda. “Bin Laden’s martyrdom was a huge loss. But today al Qaeda has become such a strong organisation that it cannot be weakened,” Hekmatyar said. According to him, al Qaeda has now shifted its base from Afghanistan to Iraq, Libya and Somalia where Aiyman al Zawahiri was successfully commanding the outfit.
Asked about the Afghan reconciliation process, the Hezb-e-Islami chief conceded that his group has had several meetings with Afghan and American officials. “We conveyed them our preconditions (for talks) and proposals for durable peace in Afghanistan,” he added. “If the US is willing, we can offer them an honourable exit from Afghanistan.”
The Hezb-e-Islami chief said that the US has imposed a small group (read: Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara) on the majority Pakhtun population. “But this group hasn’t been able to establish its writ on a small part of Afghanistan even with 150,000 foreign troops on the ground,” he said.
Hekmatyar predicted that the Karzai government would not last long following the withdrawal of US-led coalition troops from Afghanistan. About Hezb-e-Islami’s relations with the Taliban, Hekmatyar said that his group sincerely wanted unification of all Afghan insurgent groups to put up a united front against the foreign forces. However, some local and foreign elements have been sabotaging efforts to unite the insurgent groups.
“In the past, these forces pitted the Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami against each other. And now they are again conspiring to sow discord among them,” he added.
Hekmatyar suspected that the slain chairperson of the Afghan High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani, was killed by progenies of the Communist-era Afghanistan who were responsible for the killings of hundreds of religious and jihadi leaders of the country.
However, the Hezb-e-Islami chief doesn’t think that Rabbani’s killing will affect the Afghan peace process. “Neither the High Peace Council had a mandate nor Ustad Rabbani was capable of brokering peace with the insurgents,” he added. “Lasting peace is possible only if foreign forces end the occupation of Afghanistan and withdraw their troops.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2011.
COMMENTS (53)
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@climp who tell u abt him
@aazam:
You say all Afghans hate India without any proof, when I offer some which suggests the opposite, then you say it is a lie. For your Information, the poll was not conducted by any Indian agency, but by neutral ones.
Wikileaks also talks about India having huge goodwill among the Afghans.
Let Democracy flourish, ask Taliban to contest elections. If they are so popular in Afghanistan, they will win and will kick India out.
I wonder why Pakistan is not doing that.
@waseem: thanks my brother my contact number is 0300-8580520
nice story ,,,,,,fida Adeel sb will u plz give me ur contact number
@Truthbetold... Indians always prove me right when i say they live in denial. 1971, east Pakistan, who interfered in Pakistan's internal political dispute?? how Bangladesh came into being... what were your forces doing in east Pakistan?? and then the Kashmir uprising starts you started crying. whose forces captured Siachin in 80's??? which led to Kargil. who have been interfering in Baluchistan, for decades? hundreds of bomb blasts, and attacks in Pakistan, and you only talk about mumbai?? who has been using Afghanistan as a base to attack Pakistan? india doesn't have cultural, lingual, religious, and geographical ties with Afghanistan. why suddenly u found that a land-lock country can be your natural ally?? what would you say to if, Pakistan had developed same ties with Nepal??? indians can never have natural friendship with Afghans. because they are the same Afghans who have been invading your land put you to slavery for centuries and throughout the history you have been cursing them for invading and looting your land.
you are wrong that global community has been pointing fingers at Pakistan since long. they have started doing that after 9/11 when their stakes got involved and they needed a scape goat.
@Shaz: Hekmatyar is a charlatan and a murderer. He is neither brave nor humble.
Hekmatyar ? Lol ? This guy should go to Haiti on holidays don't think that he has any mass credibility nowadays
@Truthbetold: I couldn't agree with you more.
@Aurangzeb:
"Pakistan interfere in india’s matters as much as india does. "
Not really true. It is a fact that Pakistan has been using terrorism as a foreign policy tool against India for the past three decades resulting in hundreds of terror attacks in India with the loss of over 40,000 lives, the Mumbai attack being a good example.
As for Afghanistan, Pakistan has been the one interfering in its affairs for the past five decades.
Where is the proof of Indian interference in Pakistan? It has just been a propaganda by the Pakistani establishment. If true, why haven't the Pakistani establishment made these proofs available to the international community? On the other hand, the global community has been pointing fingers at Pakistan for a longtime.
You can choose to live in denial or deception, but that is not going to help Pakistan.
you can not fool people by conducting such fake polls.tajiks and other miniorities may have liked india coze they have historical relations with india.as a pakistani iam not worried about indian presence in afghanistan coze i firmly believe that our army will never let them to be successful in their malicious intentions about pakistan but what about real afghans[whom you label as taliban] they do not like india.they will never let afghanistan to be ruled by india or its puppets.this war is no longer war against terrorism,but now this is a war between pushtuns and invaders.i think pushtuns have every right to defend their mother land as they have been doing for years.
@aazam:
Outsiders they have repelled, yes. Pakistan too are outsiders, aren't they.
India is the most like Country in Afghanistan and Pakistan the least according to a poll.
"Almost three in four Afghans had a favourable impression of India, making it the most popular country in Afghanistan, bar none. "
http://acorn.nationalinterest.in/2009/04/02/afghans-however-think-highly-of-india/
Pakistan got the approval of only 2% of the people surveyed. Goes to show whom the Afghans consider as outsiders, doesn't it?
If what you say is indeed true then Pakistan has no reason to oppose India's numerous presence in Afghanistan. After all India will be hurt at the end. The fact that Pakistan is peeved no end shows how hollow and out of touch with reality your claim is.
@salim khan: the butcher of kabul; killer of the innocent afghans; Pakistan was with him then as well, thanks to the poepl of your kind. No wonder that paksitan is not getting a reasonably good, forward looking progressive leader; I doubt it ever will, so long peopl like you are in majority. It is said in Indian scriptures; "having an enemy within is enough to degenerate";
@Muhammad... you are talking about war and war is ruthless, but its fought for reasons, how can you judge someone's reasons?? he is brave because he has fought for his land and his people.
Hikmatyar is right in many things but he forgot that Pakistan bore the brunt of 5 million afghan refugees while helping Afghan's reclaim the lost Kabul from Russia. He should be indebted to Pakistan rather.
@javed: yes javed you are right now americans shuld realise the situation and shuld go from this rigion this is the vioce of every afghan, every pakistani and every american.
Vienna,Nov 2,2011 Hikmat means as far as I know good luck. But Hikmatyar is all bad luck for Afghanistan. If he has Afghan good at heart he should accept the hopes and aspirations of Hazaras, Tajik and Uzbeks in Afghanistan.If willing to co-operate Afghani people will forgive him. If not he can go Osama Bin Laden way. But Afghanistan will survive. Because there are people who love " Kabuliwalas"! Taravadu Taranga Trust for Media monitoring TTTMM India --Kulamarva Balakrishna
Great work Fida, it's a great peice of work and much applausable. Hakmityar point of view is always recongnized and entertain in the peace process for a prosperious Afghanistan. At least he is the person, to decline the America and Afghanistan blame on Pakistan.
brave leader of afghans
Hikmatyar is a true muslim and brave leader of afgsans
nice interwiew hikmatyar is a true leader of afghans we paksitantanis are with him
Through this statement Hikmatyar showed himself according to his name which means friend of wiseness. I think Hikmatyar’s statement is crystal truth what he said about Pakistan’s role and America’s condition in Afghanistan. This is not just point of view of Hikmatyar but the voice of heart of every Afghan too. Hikmat yar forwarded a such kind of suggestion which is in interest of all stack holders Pakistan, America & Afghanistan and this is the key point which decrease problems of three. So I think American forces should quit as soon as possible because it is the cry of the day and i think America is being understood now.
@Aurangzeb @Shaz
This brave man shelled the city of Kabul from Sarobi and killed thousands of innocent people. Go to Kabul and see the destruction. Even the Russians have not inflicted such pain on this once glorious cities.
@haris
It was a harmonious society and then we started training Kabul University students in 1975 long before the arrival of the Russians
@haris: I think you need to reread Afghanistan history to realise that it has never been harmonious in that nation's history. It will revert to its natural state of chaos with or without foreign involvement. The best Pakistan can do is to seal the border with Afghanistan and let Afghanis to their own fate. As for Hekmetyar, he should be deported back to Afghanistan like the other former refugee, Karzai.
@bruteforce:i do not need your certificate to be called an educated person...as far as afghanis are concerned,i bet you they are in over whelming majority in Afghanistan,that's why they have always defeated invaders.the tactic of using indian influence to suppress afghanis was also used during USSR and afghan war but it failed.iam quite sure that is not going to work for USA any more.afghanis will never let any other country to rule on them.
@aazam: How do you know they are handing over Afghanistan to minority? Pukhtoon consist of 40-42% the total population and many of them are part of the current government while rest of ethnic groups form 58-60%. That leaves these insurgents in a minority now if you ask then how come they cannot be eliminated the answer is simple. Swat population is around 1 Million and they wanted to get rid of Mullah Radio and his just few thousand barbarians but they were held hostage till Army kicked them out and still its leadership escaped. They don't have half an army of half a million men and on top of that Taliban are many times more in Afghanistan than they were in Swat and having foreign forces further complicates the task as they get support and sympathy for fighting against foreign forces from some local population. Mr Hikmatyar like people are in minority but they hold gun while the majority of people want peace and live a family life thus are kept hostage at gun point by these people. If Mr Hekmatyar thinks they are the majority then why not take part in an election and throw out Karzai via vote?
@MAD: Thats true but atleast back then no other country was being affected. You statement is illogical to say the least .. How about them sheltering AQ and then protecting its leadership after 9-11 despite them accepting the responsibility of staging it. ?. They used Afghanistan for the sole purpose of affecting other countries with their myopic views and policies and when US was coming they all ran like rats while left the foot soldiers there to die. United States lost this war on the that same day it started it. They could have easily finished every thing within minutes if they wanted but may be they have become matured after WWII.
@John B:
Before the arrival of Russians, Afghanistan was an established and harmonious society, far better than today's Pakistan. Read about Afghanistan before Soviets or about Khurassan.
We all are equally responsible for all the disorderliness which certainly has inflicted the Afghan society.
This is not just the point of view of Hikmat yar but most of the afghans too. He suggested the point which can reduce America's & Afghan's problems. America should leave Afghanistan as soon as possible because this is a bitter truth and cry of the day.
Does Gul Hekmat have any credibility and loyalty? He has changed sides whenever it suited him and now no body wants to back him. Pakistanis don't want him, Iranis kicked him out and if he is still dreaming of rulinh Afghanistan, he's mistaken..
First of All congrats Mr Fida on His first story in ET. Being a muslim we have to diffrentiate between freinds and enimes.
@Observer Indeed you are right, similarly USA, Nato and India has no busniess interferring in Afghanistan and Pakistan
very very nice story ,,,,,honorable and brave man Hekmatyar
Very very Nice story ,,, honorable and brave man Hekmatyar
See what keeps the show on, there are little hopes as every country seems to have some interests in this country for the last three decads. It is likely tha that very soon, the undercarpet war will affect a large area. God forbid, but everyone is pushing it to that end. The ordinary citizen of neighboring countries are spiting at each other for all this mess, is it the way we can slove problemS? you all are part of the problem.
@Observer
Pakistan interfere in india's matters as much as india does.
FIDA get well soon. our prayers are with you.
Congrats Fida on your first ever story on ET.
iam 200% agree with hikmatyar that US is trying to handover afghanistan to miniority groups with the help of india.i hope that afghanis will never accept it and keep their struggle on against oppressors at every cost.
@Abdul Rehman Gilani
Half of Hikmetyar's commanders are in Karzai government. He couldn't deliver Kabul so Pakistan shifted support to Taliban who kicked him out. He joined hands with Northern Alliance and later fled to Iran. So either Taliban are great or Hikmetyar is great
What about Hikmatyar's own impulsiveness? He is abhored by most Afghans, including the Pushtuns. Seems fallen from the grace since he led the biggest, most influential militant group with lion share of foriegn assistance duringt the 1980s, to be reduced to a small militant faction in the current post-2001 insurgency in Afghanistan. And while he now claims the Afghan Taliban regime to be a legitimate one pre-9/11, he was the first one who opposed and fought them and went into self-exile after losing at their hands. So much contradition... No doubt he is "Abu Shufshufa" (Old Fuzzhead) of Afghanistan.
Pakistan will get what it deserved most ...
Pakistan blamed for "massacre of 130000 Afghans"? shocking.
Hekmatyar is an honorable and brave man.
@John B:
Thats true but atleast back then no other country was being affected. The fact is that foriegn powers have no business interfering in the affairs of another country be it, USA, Russia, Pakistan, India etc etc.
True words from a great man indeed!
Absolutely spot on analysis.
"Lasting peace is possible only if foreign forces end the occupation of Afghanistan and withdraw their troops.”
Did we not hear the slogan when soviets were there?
No one prevented these guys to get the afghan people's votes. Today it is foreign troops, tomorrow they fight against other ethnic groups.