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| Afghanistan |
| Warlords Huddle With Hekmatyar |
| 2002-09-19 |
| Another one from Steve, who reads everything... Renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has held secret meetings with other disgruntled warlords in a drive to form a wider alliance against the government of President Hamid Karzai and the United States military presence in Afghanistan. European intelligence officials and Afghan ministers say Hekmatyar met earlier this month with former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was nominal head of the Northern Alliance that supported the U.S. in toppling the Taliban. Rabbani was sidelined at the Bonn conference in December that set up the post-Taliban government. Since then he has increasingly criticized Karzai and his U.S. backers. There's been lots of sour grapes from him ever since... Hekmatyar also met Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, who once headed the Ittehad-e-Islami, an anti-Soviet resistance group. Although an ally of the Northern Alliance, he too was sidelined at the Bonn meeting. A fierce proponent of Wahabbism, a conservative strain of Islam, he has received lavish funding from Saudi Arabia. Rasool's talent is to straddle both sides of the fence while trying to tear it down... There are also unconfirmed reports that Ismail Khan, charismatic governor of the western province of Herat, is sheltering Hekmatyar supporters. In the early 1980s, all four men belonged to the Ikhwan-e-Muslimeen, or Islamic Brotherhood, which emerged out of the Arab world and prefigured today's extremist Islamic movements. Hekmatyar is now trying to revive those connections and the Ikhwan ideology, which is nationalistic and anti-American. I would be really surprised if Izzy is deeply involved with Hekmatyar. His concern is keeping control of his fiefdom and there's nothing in it for him to support the Hekmatyarian ambitions. Pepe Escobar has been reporting most of this — I didn't know about Hekmatyar's Ikhwan ties to Izzy before — in Asia Times. Pepe's anti-Americanism gets in the way of what could be some very good reporting, though. You have to pick through 60% opinion to get to the 40% of fact. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #3 Hek's Hizbis are also quite close to Jamaat-i-Islami (Pakistan). They have posted Maududi's junk theology on their website for a couple of years. |
| Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God 2002-09-19 15:50:10 |
| #2 If I posted all the stuff Steve sends me, I wouldn't have the time to dig up any on my own... So, thanks, Steve! |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-09-19 11:13:01 |
| #1 Steve, whoever you are. Thanks for giving Fred all these tips. |
| Posted by: Patrick Phillips 2002-09-19 11:00:44 |