Gulbuddin Hekmatyar: From the lists of terrorism to competition over the rule of Afghanistan
Monday 21/January/2019 - 02:13 PM
Doaa Imam
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the Hezb el-Islami political party in
Afghanistan, went to the Independent Commission on Saturday afternoon to
register his name as a candidate for the presidential elections, more than two
years after signing a peace deal with the Kabul government.
The return of Hekmatyar, who played a key role in the civil war that killed
thousands and led to massive destruction in the Afghan capital, means he is
re-entering the country's political life after a break of more than 20 years.
The Afghan Election Commission decided on December 30, 2018, to postpone the
presidential election 3 months to be held in July, instead of April.
Hekmatyar was born in June 1947 and was arrested in 1972 on charges of getting
involved in the assassination of a leftist student. He was later released the
following year and then joined the influential Young Muslim Association at the
time. With the occurrence of a clash between the political party led by
Burhanuddin Rabbani and the military wing led by Hekmatyar, each established
his own organization and Hekymatyar became the leader of the Afghan Islamic
Party (Hezb el-Islami).
He is said to have cooperated closely with former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden in the early 1990s. Hekmatyar was appointed prime minister of the Afghan
government between 1993 and 1994 and briefly for a second time in 1996 before
the Taliban seized control of Kabul; forcing him to flee to the Iranian capital
Tehran.
In 2001, after the fall of the Taliban regime following the US invasion,
Hekmatyar led the armed militia formed by his party, then in 2003, it was
listed on terrorism lists by the US State Department and continued to be on the
list of international terrorist groups until February 2017.
His name was then lifted from the list of terrorists and his properties were
un-confiscated. The Afghan government also pardoned him within the framework of
a peace agreement with the Islamic Party that provided for the release of
detainees from the party and the return of Hekmatyar to political life.
The Afghan parliamentary elections took place in October 2018, and witnessed
large-scale violence that left scores of dead and wounded people after the
armed groups, led by the Taliban, rejected what it called "the play of
elections," and vowed to target workers in this area.
