Afghanistan: Jihad leader Hekmatyar dismisses "peace process," says "The only solution is to continue the jihad until all the foreign forces fully leave Afghanistan"

And indeed it will be, one way or the other. "Hekmatyar sees jihad as the only solution," by Tahir Khan for the Express Tribune, August 19:

Former Afghan prime minister and Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar on Saturday accused the backers of the peace process of lying and misleading the public because “jihad” alone could resolve the country’s crisis.
In his Eidul Fitr message, Hekmatyar said those who expected that the peace process would yield a solution to the crisis in Afghanistan were lying. “The only solution is to continue the jihad until all the foreign forces fully leave Afghanistan,” he said in a statement emailed to The Express Tribune.

Hekmatyar’s Hizb-e-Islami had been involved in talks with Afghan government and US officials, which were eventually suspended after Kabul signed a strategic partnership agreement with Washington earlier this year.

The Taliban had also been involved in talks with the US over the past two years but the process has now been suspended in the wake of differences over certain issues, including the release of prisoners.

“Those who think that the war will end in the presence of foreign military are wrong,” said Hekmatyar, who has been in hiding for years.

He said peace and security could only be restored if foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan, adding that not only was the mujahideen strong, but the cost of the ongoing war, which was $120 billion annually, was taking its toll on the US economy.

Indeed. And for what?

He went on to praise Afghan fighters for launching attacks during Ramazan, which, he added, were the most in number since the past 11 years.
“This long war has pushed the US and its allies to serious financial and political crises. They have not achieved anything and are biting everyone like a wounded snake,” Hekmatyar said.

Except the jihadis, that is.

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6 Comments

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dumbledoresarmy | August 19, 2012 5:29 AM | Reply

I would be very, very happy to get all our Aussie soldiers out of that sharia-crazed jihad-wracked hellpit.

But at the same time, all of those Afghan Mohammedan Males of Military Age who have been pouring into places as far apart as Greece and Australia, pretending to be Poor Widdle Persecuted Petals, wah, wah, wah...

Out *they* should go, too, back to Mohammedland. No 'soldiers of allah' on *our* turf, not any more.

Enragedsince1999 | August 19, 2012 3:35 PM | Reply

Hekmatyar, arguably the worst thug in the modern history of Afghanistan, was by far the most favored of the 7 "mujaheddin" groups by the CIA during the jihad against the Russians. His Hezb-i-Islami got more money and weapons from the CIA than all other groups combined, including over 90 percent of the advanced anti-aircraft Stinger missles. Even though Hekmatyar was absolutely openly anti-American even then. Worse, he internationalized and globalized his network, expanding it outward, into the Arab world. And it was Hekmatyar who introduced Osama bin Laden to the CIA who armed and trained his devotees who would soon organize into the al-Qaida network. This episode alone tells us everything there is to know about the CIA: those sociopaths are afflicted with severe wisdom deficiency and severe common sense deficiency, in addition to being totally devoid of any morality and any humanity.

Ruslan Tokhchukov, EnragedSince1999.

amazonas replied to comment from Enragedsince1999 | August 19, 2012 8:16 PM | Reply

Yet when I say that I despise Reagan for arming someone like Hekmatyar (aka Mr. Battery Acid) Wellington goes "oh pleeze....."

Defeating the USSR was worth partying with this creep apparently, hindsight is 20-20 and all that.

Enraged since 1982. Give or take a year or too.

Mary | August 20, 2012 12:22 AM | Reply

President Obama made campaign promises to bring our troops home. Then, he sent even more troops over and lengthened their deployments and kept extending their return dates, even while declaring the war was over. He is, in effect, holding our troops for the Muslim Brotherhood's global jihadists to come from all over the "Muslim world" and beat them up and kill them. Just as he is spending all our money (and selling our country), so he is spending all of our military might. How will we defend ourselves when the jihadists terrorize our cities and the elitists confiscate all our property?

Infidel replied to comment from amazonas | August 20, 2012 12:01 PM | Reply

While I won't comment on what Wellington might say, I'll agree w/ you that in the 80's, Heqmatyar was the face of the Afghan Jihadis that Reagan supported right until the end. The only thing that can be said for the Reagan policy of supporting him was the presumption that the Soviets were more lethal than he was. But other than that, Muslims were a very latent and divided threat at the time - you had the likes of Iraq, Syria, Libya and S Yemen pitted against Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and N Yemen.

But otherwise, Heqmatyar was no different from the Taliban or other Jihadi groups in Afghanistan - the only differences b/w them are ethnic loyalties. Heqmatyar belonged to a Pashtun tribe different from the one that dominated the Taliban. Ahmad Shah Masood was a Tajik. Similarly, there were other Jihadi parties - Hazara, Turkmen and Uzbeg. The civil war that tore Afghanistan apart was a plain and simple turf war b/w these ethnic groups.

Pakistan supported Heqmatyar as well - under Gen Zia ul Haq, he was their man for Afghanistan. Gen Zia's successor Benazir of course hated Gen Zia for being behind the execution of her father, and so when she came to power after his death in a plane crash, she and her ISI started the Taliban, as an effort to wean support away from Heqmatyar. How that panned out, everybody knows. Yet, after her assassination, there were cretins all over praising her as someone opposed to the Jihadis.

But yeah, a part of the reason Heqmatyar is where he is today is the backing he got from the US. It's often alleged by the Left - wrongly as usual - that the US nurtured the Taliban and Osama. Neither was true. The US nurtured Heqmatyar, and by the time Paki support for him was cut off by Benazir, the Soviets had already left, and the Najib regime was on its own. And once the Soviets left, the US too stopped taking interest in what was going on there. And I don't think it was the wrong decision. The wrong decision was being unaware of the Muslim threat in the US itself.

Anyway, at this point, the US should just pull out and let there be another civil war. Just let the Afghans (and everyone else like them - Pakis, Iranians, Saudis, Egyptians, no exceptions) know that if anything similar to a 9/11 is ever even attempted again, they'll experience a nuclear backlash from the US. And mean it. A few nukes on cities like Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar, Kandahar, Kabul, Jalalalalalalalalabad, Teheran, Cairo and so on should have a salutary effect. A variation on Tom Tancredo's 'Nuke Mecca' suggestion, but w/ a different retaliatory target list.

amazonas replied to comment from Infidel | August 20, 2012 6:42 PM | Reply

Hi Infidel, thanks for a really interesting and erudite reply.
I even learnt a few things from it about the sad story of Afghanistan, so thanks.

I guess my reaction, somewhat emotional at times is the lauding of Reagan like he was somehow on top of all this when clearly he wasn't.

Maybe he thought the Soviets were a greater threat and you know what? Maybe he was right. In even event history has judged him well, so far.

Funny thing is maybe Chamberlain thought the Soviets were a greater threat also and tried to play Hitler off against that. It didn't work so history has judged him poorly and won't cut him the slack that Reagan has got. But I think life and politics are more complicated than that.

Okay, I just went off at another tangent, but thanks again.

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