Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
ګلبدین حکمتیار
Hekmatyar in 2019
Prime Minister of Afghanistan
In office
26 June 1996 – 11 August 1997
Disputed by Mohammad Rabbani from 27 September 1996
PresidentBurhanuddin Rabbani
Preceded byAhmad Shah Ahmadzai (acting)
Succeeded by
In office
17 June 1993 – 28 June 1994
PresidentBurhanuddin Rabbani
Preceded byAbdul Sabur Farid Kohistani (1992)
Succeeded byArsala Rahmani Daulat (acting)
Personal details
Born (1949-08-01) 1 August 1949 (age 75)[1]
Imam Sahib District, Kingdom of Afghanistan
Political partyHezb-e Islami Gulbuddin
Alma materKabul University
Military career
Allegiance Hezbi Islami (1975–1977)
Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (1977–2016)
Years of service1975–present (until 2016 as a Resistance Leader)
Battles / warsSoviet–Afghan War
Afghan Civil War
War in Afghanistan (2001-2021)

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar[a] (born 1 August 1949)[2] is an Afghan politician, and former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so called after Mohammad Yunus Khalis split from Hezbi Islami in 1979 to found Hezb-i Islami Khalis.[3][4] He twice served as prime minister during the 1990s.

Hekmatyar joined the Muslim Youth organization as a student in the early 1970s, where he was known for his Islamic radicalism rejected by much of the organization. He spent time in Pakistan before returning to Afghanistan when the Soviet–Afghan War began in 1979, at which time the CIA began funding his rapidly growing Hezb-e Islami organization through the Pakistani intelligence service, ISI,[5] one of the largest of the Afghan mujahideen. He received more CIA funding than any other mujahideen leader during the Soviet-Afghan War.[6]

In the late 1980s Hekmatyar and his organization used the funds and weapons provided to them by the CIA to start trafficking opium, and later moved into manufacturing heroin. He established himself and his group amongst the leading heroin suppliers in the Middle East. Given the CIA's connection, this became a subject of diplomatic embarrassment for the US foreign service.[7] Following the ouster of Soviet-backed Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah in 1992, Hekmatyar declined to form part of the new government and, with other warlords, engaged in the Afghan civil war, leading to the death of around 50,000 civilians in Kabul alone. Hekmatyar was accused of bearing the most responsibility for the rocket attacks on the city.[8][9] In the meantime, as part of the peace and power-sharing efforts led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, Hekmatyar became Prime Minister of Afghanistan from 1993 to 1994 and again briefly in 1996, before the Taliban takeover of Kabul forced him to flee to Iran's capital Tehran.[10]

Sometime after the Taliban's fall in 2001 he went to Pakistan, leading his paramilitary forces into an unsuccessful armed campaign against Hamid Karzai's government and the international coalition in Afghanistan.[11]

In 2016, he signed a peace deal with the Afghan government and was allowed to return to Afghanistan after almost 20 years in exile.[12] Following the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, on 17 August 2021, Hekmatyar met with both Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, former chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation and former chief executive, in Doha seeking to form a government.[13][14] However they were subdued as the Taliban formed a non-inclusive government in September 2021.[15] Hekmatyar remains in Kabul.[16]

  1. ^ "Recent OFAC Actions". 26 September 2012. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Security Council ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee Removes One Entry from Its Sanctions List Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Afghanistan's Civil Wars: Violations by United Front Factions". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 17 March 2007.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jamestown was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Gulbuddin Hekmatyar". 1 May 1998. Archived from the original on 1 May 1998.
  6. ^ Crowley, Michael (9 March 2010). "Our Man in Kabul?". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Op01 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ The 'Butcher Of Kabul' Is Welcomed Back In Kabul Archived 2019-03-06 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "Terry Glavin: The rehabilitation of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the Butcher of Kabul". nationalpost. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Hekmatyar Leaves Iran". Tehran Times. 26 February 2002. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Gulbuddin Hekmatyar: Ruthless Warlord, New Karzai Ally or Both?". 23 March 2010. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  12. ^ "Afghanistan signs peace deal with infamous, reclusive warlord Hekmatyar". Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  13. ^ "Afghanistan's Hekmatyar says heading for Doha with Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah to meet Taliban - Al Jazeera". Reuters. 16 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  14. ^ AFP (18 August 2021). "Taliban met ex-Afghan leader Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah". Brecorder. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  15. ^ "Who Will Run the Taliban Government?". www.crisisgroup.org. 9 September 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  16. ^ "Hezb-e-Islami party to support Taliban government". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 18 October 2022.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).