Gulbuddin Hekmatyar - Assault on Kabul

[2RHPZ]

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had links with KGB

October 8, 1992

By Imran Akbar

PARIS: The US House Republican Research Committee of the Task Force on Terrorism
and Unconventional Warfare has severely criticized the Central Intelligence
Agencies and Inter-Services-Intelligence for their gross negligence and cover-up
of the misconduct of the Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan during the 13 year Afghan
civil war.

The report also alleged that the ISI propped Hekmatyar as an ultimate Muslim
choice, while knowing all along that he was actually working for the ex-Soviet
KGB, the intelligence agency of the Soviet Union.

The 19-page report submitted in March 1990 and now doing rounds here, claims
that the ISI had created Hekmatyar only to serve the military regime of General
Ziaul Haq. The report states: "needless to say, the picture of Hekmatyar's
success in the civil war created by the KGB-Khad (propaganda) closely fits the
biases of Ziaul Haq and ISI. This Islamist leadership was subsequently adopted
by Ziaul Haq because of the ISI's claims of tight control over the radical
revivalist Islamist movements as well the ensuring ideological endorsement from
Pakistan's Jamat-e-Islami and the Saudi Arabian leadership. (The new prime
minister) Benazir Bhutto cannot afford to disavow and disassociate herself from
the Afghan leadership built by her father, let alone confront the ISI on the
conduct of its Afghan operations."

The report further states, "Given this, the reports of Hezb-e-Islami victories
served the ISI's intrinsic interests so well that it had no desire to doubt them
and indeed politically could not afford to. With the Zia regime wholeheartedly
committed to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, any attempt to challenge or verify his
(Hekmatyar's) claims was swiftly crushed by Islamabad's highest echelons.
Moreover, it was in the personal interest of numerous ISI senior officers and
operatives who were embezzling the ever-growing flow of US and Saudi military
and financial assistance to ensure that the process should continue."

The false information from Islamabad to Washington through CIA resulted in the
termination of aid in 1989 and the ISI plan to launch a massive attack on
Jalalabad.

The debacle was so huge that even today the last body count has not yet been
confirmed and neither the original planner brought to justice. The worse part of
the story is that the Hekmatyar group was already working for the KGB and had in
fact co-operated with the Soviet troops in persecution and subsequent defeat of
other resistance factions.

Hekmatyar is also termed in the report as a commander who killed more Mujahideen
than Soviet Afghan soldiers. The report recalls a curious incident where the ISI
had to lose its two top agents in order to protest Hekmatyar and his KGB network
from being exposed to the media. In the spring of 1985, a senior resistance
commander's source in the Soviet intelligence network agreed to disclose the
Hekmatyar dossier in Moscow in the return for the safe passage for his family.
As the CIA prepared itself the task, the whole network was betrayed to the
Soviets after a call for a top-level meeting by resistance commanders was
intercepted by Hekmatyar.

Within twenty-four hours, a Soviet special flight IL-63M plane was arranged
which flew the source to Tashkent never to be heard of again. The aftermath
indicated the Hekmatyar was afraid that the credible source would expose his
true identity. For the ISI, recognizing the gravity of the betrayal meant
doubting the reliability of Hekmatyar and the self-serving empire built around
his myth. Therefore, the ISI decided to suppress the incident eve though two of
its won/operatives were amongst those arrested and transferred to Tashkent.

Hekmatyar's meteoric rise came after his expulsion from the Kabul Military
Academy. Till then, he was a staunch communist and later infiltrated into Muslim
fundamentalist groups on the behest of the KGB and Khad. He arranged his first
professional assassination of a Maoist communist leader in Kabul in 1972 and
then entered the Muslim Brotherhood as the older leadership began to be killed
under mysterious circumstances.

The KGB-Hekmatyar co-operation could be judged from the fact that the resistance
commanders in the Maidan area were afraid to ambush Soviet envy's for fear of
reprisal from Hezb-e-Islami. Hekmatyar also managed to destroy two ammunition
depots and five weapons trucks stripping Jamaiat-e-Islami leader Ahmed Shah
Massoud of weapons near the Pakistani border of Garan Chashma.

The ISI, the Task Force reports states, monitored the ambush of Tekhar province
where senior Jamiat commanders were killed. Some of them were brutally tortured.
The communication system and messages exchanged were on the same frequency range
as that of the ISI. The tussle between Ahmed Shah Massoud and ISI reached the
peak in 1988, when Massoud refused to surrender to ISI pressure. In return, his
aid was completely cut off forcing him to buy weapons from the black market.

The assassination of Afghan liberal intellectual, Majrooh, was orchestrated by
the Hezb-e-Islami in Peshawar where the Hezb hit-team included a SPETNAZ
commando from the Soviet Union. The ISI briefed Hekmatyar and with KGB KHAD
assistance, the gulf between Pashtuns and other nationalities widened, Today an
average of 200 people are killed daily in Afghanistan in continued battles
between ethnic and sectarian minorities.

The Hekmatyar phenomenon of violence occurred when General Hameed Gul was the
ISI chief and later though officially retired, often found himself in Peshawar
while General Asif Durrani sat as the Director General in ISI in Islamabad.
Incidentally, it was during the same period that the Iran-Contra Affair reached
its peak and Pakistan was cited as a willing participant in the scam. This at
least indicated the huge heroin transportation by ships from the Pakistani coast
of Makran to the islands of Mauritius and Africa between 1985 and 1988.

According to the much acclaimed Saudi aid to Hekmatyar also has a dark side. The
great Afghan expert on Muslim strategy, General Kamal Adham, also the former
head of the Saudi intelligence agency, is now under house arrest. He was
responsible for arranging the meeting between Hekmatyar and a Soviet
representative, Yu Voroustsov, in Taif Saudi Arabia. The meeting was requested
by Dr.Najeebullah, the former President of Afghanistan in 1989. The reason for
the arrest of Kamal Adham is said to be his role in heroin money laundering and
recycling of drug money through BCCI. It was also the same period when two
Israeli Defense force members were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan while
invited by the ISI in 1986.

The report, it is believed in Paris, would cause further headaches to the
propaganda officers of the Republican Party in the forthcoming US elections
where President Bush finds himself trailing at the bottom in opinion polls.

The questions often asked buy security experts here is why the CIA and ISI
failed to give the true picture of events and character of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Does Hekmatyar continue to serve a large purpose which some-how forms the New
World Order now that war of nationalities funded by heroin engulf South West
Asia?

Hekmatyar, Gulbuddin
Afghani leader of the Mujahedin (Islamic fundamentalist guerrillas), prime minister 1993–94 and 1996. Strongly anticommunist and leading the Hezb-i-Islami (Islamic Party) faction, he resisted the takeover of Kabul by moderate Mujahedin forces in April 1992 and refused to join the interim administration, continuing to bombard the city until being driven out. In June 1993, under a peace agreement with President Burhanuddin Rabbani, Hekmatyar was re-admitted to the city as prime minister, but his forces renewed their attacks on Kabul during 1994. He was subsequently dismissed from the premiership, but returned to Kabul in June 1996, when he became combined prime minister, defence minister, and finance minister. However, in September he was driven out of Kabul by the Taliban (fundamentalist student army) who had seized control of much of Afghanistan. *
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Hekmatyar became a Mujahedin in the 1980s, leading the fundamentalist faction of the Hezb-i-Islami, dedicated to the overthrow of the Soviet-backed communist regime in Kabul. He refused to countenance participation in any interim national unity government that was to include Afghan communists. Renewed bombardment of Kabul by Hezb-i-Islami forces in 1992 led to his faction being barred from government posts. His fierce fight for Kabul from 1995, with Ahmed Shah Mesood, the defence minister, led to chaos. In March 1998 he returned from exile in Iran and proposed a new peace settlement.
*

[2RHPZ]

May 1992
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Pashton Hekmatyar's Assault on Kabul *
by Richard S. Ehrlich *
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- Thunderous explosions, the dull thud of rockets and the staccato of heavy machine gun fire punctuated the air as fighting on Kabul's outskirts pressured the victorious rebels who are holding this capital to prevent it falling to rival guerrilla forces.
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Former rebel leader Ahmad Shah Masood and his allies control Kabul. *
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But his arch-rival, guerrilla leader Gulbudin Hekmatyar and his supporters, are believed to be responsible for rockets fired from the southern edge of Kabul which hit positions near the stately Darulaman Palace.
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Masoud's newly acquired Russian warplanes -- which he captured along with Kabul's other military hardware -- flew south from Kabul on reconnaissance flights throughout the day.
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Hekmatyar is currently isolated and being kept from entering Kabul in force while other tribal and former rebel leaders are trying to negotiate with him.
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Hekmatyar, however, has vowed to invade Kabul and continue Afghanistan's 14-year long war unless he is named prime minister. *
He wants to impose a rigid Islamic rule on this central Asian nation, so all laws would be drawn from a strict reading of the Koran.
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Washington funded, armed and trained many of the various rebel groups, but concentrated on empowering Hekmatyar the most because the United States found him to have the strongest and best organized group.
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Moderate Afghans from all sides of the war had begged the United States for years not to strengthen Hekmatyar because he wants to impose a regime that they said would not be popular.
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Masood and other more moderate guerrillas toppled the Moscow-installed regime of President Najibullah at the end of April and seized Kabul. *
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Hekmatyar's refusal to compromise and stop fighting has now become Masoud's biggest nightmare.
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Hekmatyar, who is now in Logar province's mountains just south of Kabul, claims he wants to rid Afghanistan of all foreign interference so it can be truly independent and also purify its corrupted society of all anti-Islamic behavior.
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He has denied receiving any backing from Washington and says it is Masood who is largely a creation of the West. *
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Masoud's compromise with Najibullah's military and government officials further angered Hekmatyar who wants the new regime to be free of all who collaborated with the previous communist government.
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Hekmatyar said he also will escalate his attacks on the capital unless Masood ousts the unpopular and widely feared Uzbek tribal militia led by General Rashid Dostam.
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The Uzbek militia were formerly paid mercenaries on the side of Najibullah against Masood and other rebels. *
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But the Uzbek militia turned against Najibullah as he began to weaken and now roam much of Kabul demanding a share of the victorious rebels' spoils.
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Tajiks and other minorities fear Hekmatyar may be able to woo more Pashtuns towards his side so they can continue their traditional domination of Afghanistan.
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The capital meanwhile continues function in terrified suspense of how the new administration will evolve and if it can ensure peace.
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Rebels now speed through the capital by cramming as many heavily armed men as possible into battered yellow-and-white taxis, gleaming Japanese four-wheel-drive vehicles, rattling green Russian trucks and anything else on wheels. *
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A flag displaying their faction usually flutters atop their car.
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Masoud's men are recognizable by their flat, round tan woolen hats popular with Tajik tribesmen, and often wear army camouflage fatigues.
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Dostum's men dress in long, layered, loose outfits and sometimes wear round woven caps atop their long, unkempt hair. *
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They appear much more wild-looking than their highly disciplined counterparts under Masood.
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Hekmatyar and his followers wear billowy, often gray-checkered, cotton cloth turbans.
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There are an array of other, smaller rebel factions in and around Kabul.
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The assassination of the former regime's Supreme Court Chief Justice Kariam Shaida -- who was found dead with his face and body riddled by bullets -- has meanwhile terrified the previous government's officials, civil servants and other workers who had been promised a general amnesty by the rebels' new administration.
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They are trying to blend in with the general population and either remain at their posts to serve the rebels they once opposed, or find new work.
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One worried former senior government press officer, for example, now works privately as a translator for foreign correspondents who are reporting the death of his regime and the rebels' victory.
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The former judge was hated by rebels and dissidents because he served under Najibullah as the last court of appeal, yet failed to rescue hundreds of people who were sentenced to death or imprisonment, Afghans say.
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It is not known if Shaida's assassination is the beginning of uncontrollable revenge slaughters or a calculated act by Masoud's enemies to embarrass his new administration and frighten former government officials to dessert Kabul and leave him vulnerable.
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Kabul's streets are guarded every few hundred yards by various former rebel factions who brandish Russian-made AK-47 assault rifles and shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenade launchers, or simply sit atop parked tanks decked with a few red flowers and small green Islamic flags.
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They stop cars and ask questions but usually wave people on, while maintaining fixed position behind stacked sandbag at government installations, banks, main intersections and other key points.
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The ruling rebels' council Monday ordered hotels not to serve alcohol to Afghans or foreigners, ensure all female staff wear headscarves and cover all skin except their face and hands, and not to rent rooms to any couples of the opposite *** unless they show proof of marriage.
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One exasperated hotel worker said privately, "No alcohol for us Afghans, this I can understand because of Islam. But why not for foreigners? The council has ordered us to obey these three rules, so we must, but if this continues I want to go to some other country to work."
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Hotels are teeming with armed former rebels who stroll with the rifles and rocket launchers through lobbies and halls.
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For example my hotel, The Spinzar in the heart of the city, has been taken over by Harkate Inqilabe Islami guerrillas led by Nabi Mohammadi.
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Residents of Kabul are meanwhile divided on whether to kill, imprison or set free former President Najibullah who is reportedly hiding in a United Nations' building after failing to flee the country.
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"I want to kill Najibullah," said a 12-year-old boy who is studying English and French so he can be a successful carpet salesman.
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Another merchant however praised Najibullah for trying to negotiate with the rebels during his final years in power and said he should be allowed to fly to India to join his relatives who are being guarded by Indian security forces in the government-owned Ashok Hotel in New Delhi.
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Other residents said it would be too shocking to execute Najibullah at a time when Masood is depending on the defeated Afghan army, airforce and other government employees to rule Kabul. *
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Some residents offer a compromise and say Najibullah should be imprisoned in the infamous Pulacharki Prison at the edge of Kabul where thousands of anti-government dissidents and rebels suffered during the war.
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Each evening, meanwhile, a sort of bizarre "happy hour" is celebrated throughout Kabul when former rebels shoot hundreds of rounds of machine gun bullets, red and white tracer rockets and other ammunition into the night sky for entertainment.
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Officials have asked for the firing to stop because some of the falling ammo has hit innocent victims, but the warnings have been ignored.
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Many shops and offices have opened, but many remain shuttered. *
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Ironically, many of the capital's traders still offer goods linked to the former regime, such as books of speeches and propaganda from Najibullah and other Moscow-supported Afghan leaders.
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Shops also display signs and books in Cyrillic even though there are only a handful of Russians left in the embassy and press corps.