A Rare Look at the Political Intents of an Afghan Mujahideen Leader

The landscape of armed Afghan political groups is large; it is more than Taliban vs the Karzai government or its American protector. In fact, the Karzai government has to govern by maintaining a balance between different factions that are formed largely along ethnic and religious lines. At one point in time, some of the parties of Karzai's coalition have fought one another and this is largely the reason they have been disarmed since 2001 fearing defections and usurpations, and why they continue to be largely compensated by political appointments and corruption money coming from the massive international contributions to the country, and why they are more or less free to carry their most dubious local economic activities.

The opposition to the Karzai government is also formed by different groups of which the Taliban is only the strongest. Some of these groups have very limited interactions amongst one another. Many are only local while others have more national appeal and claim thousands of fighters such as the group Hezb-e Islam led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

The "anti-afghan" groups are united in their Islamic freedom fighting cause, but can have different views about how they want to run the country. Hekmatyar actually favors democracy within an Islamic framework. "The important issue for us is to end occupation, re-establishing the country's sovereignty, transferring the political power to an interim non-reconcile government and establishing an Islamic government in a free Afghanistan via a free election to correspond with the will of the people", he said in a rare interview with a western journalist just before the elections in 2009. He however rejects the current government saying "Kabul's government consists of looters, corrupt men and criminals". He nevertheless says that he is open to negotiations if they are "sincere" and have something to offer.

The American top military brass - including Gen. Petraeus, have said that a key to the new strategy will be to operate a separation amongst all of the anti-afghan forces between those that are reconcilable, and the hardliners which aren't and must ultimately be destroyed or kept in check. Is Hezb-e Islam reconcilable?

You can judge for yourself in the full interview with Hekmatyar in which he reveals the nature of his ties with other Mujahideens in Afghanistan and Pakistan, his grievances with the occupiers and the central government, and his intents for the future.

Alternatively, at the top is a report by the courageous journalist who carried the interview in which you can see the soldiers of Hezb-e Islam in the field.