Khaama Press, February 16, 2013

Afghan warlord Hekmatyar send out curse to democracy in Afghanistan

Mr Hekmatyar is currently in a tenuous alliance with the Taliban, although both sides remain suspicious of each other

By Mirwais Adeel

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Afghan warlord and founder of Hezb-e-Islami (Islamic Party of Afghanistan) said around 1000 people were killed during the Afghan civil war and denied to agree with the current Afghan institution, democracy and freedom of speech.

While speaking during an exclusive interiew with the 1TV Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said he sends out curse to the current democracy in Afghanistan.

Hekmatyar told 1TV media that he was not involved in all civil war during 1990′s in capital Kabul but the war was going on between several parties.

He said around 1000 ordinary people were killed during the Kabul civil war which mainly took place in south and east parts of the capital.

“The overall casualties during the Kabul civil war hardly reaches to 1000 people and majority of the civilians casualties took place in southern and eastern part of Kabul city which was under the control of Islamic Party of Afghanistan and was continuously targed by artillery, tanks and airstrikes of the government at that time.” Hekmatyar told 1TV.

However the Islamic Party of Afghanistan led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is believed to be the main reason behind bloody civil war in Kabul city during the 1990s.

Much of the civil infrastructure was ruined in Kabul due to the war. Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami is recorded as conducting the worst and major part of the shelling. (Photo: RAWA.org)

According to independent human rights commission of Afghanistan around 60,000 people were killed during the civil war in capital Kabul which lasted for 4 years and 4 months.

But Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said his party did not have any major role in Kabul civil war. He said, “We had only four to five small fights with the coalition of that time and we were only responding to the government’s attack.”

He also give out a curse to the current democracy in Afghanistan and said, “If democracy, women’s rights, freedom of speech and constitutions is what that has been displayed by Americans in Kabul and Baghdad, and which have broadly been campaigned by media agencies then we do not agree and hate such a democracy. Being a liberal Afghan we deny such a democracy and will continue to do so.”

Mr Hekmatyar is currently in a tenuous alliance with the Taliban, although both sides remain suspicious of each other. In 2003, the US state department designated him as a terrorist, accusing him of taking part in and supporting attacks by al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The Hezb-e-Islami was blamed for much of the terrible death and destruction of that period, which led many ordinary Afghans to welcome the emergence of the Taliban.

The civil war also led to Mr Hekmatyar’s fall from grace – he quickly became one of the most reviled men in the country.

For some time, Mr Hekmatyar himself enjoyed considerable support from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, according to BBC. But eventually Islamabad turned against him, preferring to give full support to the Taliban instead.

So like the other mujahideen factions, Mr Hekmatyar and his men were forced to flee Kabul when the Taliban swept into power in 1996. He ended up being given refuge in Tehran, where he lived a quiet life, waiting for his fortunes to change.

The Iranians may have regarded him as a potentially useful Pashtun card to have up their sleeve, but he turned out to be too much of a wild card for them.

His vocal opposition both to the Americans and to the new regime of President Hamid Karzai was an embarrassment to the Iranian government, which threw its official weight behind Mr Karzai. In February 2002, the Iranian authorities expelled Mr Hekmatyar and closed down the offices of his Hezb-e-Islami in Tehran.

They accused him of abusing Iranian hospitality with his comments vowing to fight the Karzai administration.

Characters Count: 5303