Afghanistan's Ethnic Curse Returns

For centuries it sat astride the major trade route connecting the western world with the east.  The result today is a country plagued with tribalism resulting from ethnic division.  They're Pashtun, Hazara, Uzbek and Tajik with a smattering of other tribes.  Ethnically they're the people of South Asia, Persia, Arabia, the Caucasus and the Steppe as well as East Asia.  For the most part they've retained their distinct culture, language and ethnicity which, in turn, fuels plenty of paranoia and distrust.  Now, as western forces prepare to depart Afghanistan, ethnic tensions are again on the rise.

“Pashtuns are the rulers and owners of Afghanistan; they are the real inhabitants of Afghanistan,” said Gen. Abdul Wahid Taqat, a former intelligence official. “Afghanistan means ‘where Pashtuns live.’ ”

 

The words ignited protests in Kabul in December. Social media erupted. To contain the uproar, President Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun, had General Taqat arrested and chastised the news media for trying to whip up hatred, something he said many outlets were increasingly doing.

 

The president warned his fellow Afghans, with their bitter memories of ethnic conflict, of what they stood to lose: “If it were not for the national unity of the people, you wouldn’t be able to live in Kabul for a second.”

 

Although there has been little ethnic violence across the country lately, in political and news media circles, nerves are raw and tempers have been flaring. Shouting matches over ethnic issues in Parliament and on radio programs have started to erupt into fistfights, a troubling reminder that the fragile ethnic détente here, sustained by foreign troops and billions of dollars in aid, could easily shatter. And with the American-led coalition preparing to withdraw, a long-term security agreement in doubt and a presidential election looming, many Afghans feel vulnerable about the future.

 

The New York Times article offers hope that young Afghans may not be as vested in ethnicity issues as their elders but their ability to forge a new, "Afghan" identity may not be able to prevail against a warlord power structure that depends heavily on ethnic militias and is inherently violent.  In January reports emerged that veteran mujahedeen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the most brutal warlords of the lot has decided to become involved in the upcoming Afghan presidential elections.

 

 

 

 

Karzai Courts Hekmatyar? Let's Just Pack Up and Leave Now.

The Times of London reports that Afghan president Hamid Karzai is offering a power sharing deal to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. GulHek is a lot like a monster without the Hollywood special effects.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is on America’s “most wanted” terrorist list, is to hold talks with the Kabul government within the next few weeks.

Hekmatyar is the leader of Hezb-i-Islami, which has been fighting Nato troops alongside the Taliban. The hardline group is responsible for many attacks in the eastern and central regions, including the massacre of 10 French soldiers in Sarobi last year. It controls Kapisa province, just 50 miles north of Kabul.

The party is expected to be offered several ministries and provincial governorships in return for laying down its arms and agreeing not to disrupt the presidential elections due in August.

Hekmatyar is, how can I put this, an evil bastard. From http://www.warlordsofafghanistan.com/:

In a Hollywood movie Hekmatyar would be the evil foil to the heroic Masud. He would be an angry Islamic fundamentalist dressed in black, throwing acid in the faces of unveiled women and assassinating local tribal leaders that might rival his power. He would be the pawn of foreign secret service paymasters like the ISI, CIA, and Prince Turki of Saudi Arabia. He would unfeelingly sacrifice peasants for his cause, rocket the helpless civilians mixed in with his enemies, and his ruthless ambition would prevent the creation of a new peace. Unfortunately, in real life Hekmatyar was all these things.

...When Masud finally defeated Najibullah in 1992, all the mujahideen factions converged on Kabul. Masud outwitted Hekmatyar and slipped into the city before him. A round robin of side-swapping, backstabbing, and massacre among Hekmatyar, Masud, Dostum, and Mazari followed. The citizens and buildings of Kabul were the big losers. The problem was that Masud could not be president as he was a Tajik, not a Pashtun. Afghan kings had been Pashtun for hundreds of years. Hekmatyar was the most powerful Pashtun, and had he not been such an evil sod, Masud might have accepted some kind of deal. In the end neither prevailed. The ISI switched support from the stalemated Hekmatyar and backed Mullah Omar, the new leader of the Taliban.

After years in exile in Iran, Hekmatyar returned to Afghanistan and raised another militia once the Taliban were run out of Dodge. This time, however, he threw his hand in with his former rivals, the Taliban. It should be nice having Hek back in his old stomping grounds (he really did stomp the place), Kabul.

This is it, folks. The warlords have won.

From Bad to Worse - Hekmatyar

I saw a line in the Washington Post suggesting that America was looking to create ties to a rebel Afghan warlord and I said to myself, please don't let it be Hekmatyar.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- As U.S. and NATO officials revamp their strategy in Afghanistan, a renegade Afghan commander could prove central to U.S. plans to rein in the insurgency through negotiations.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is a 61-year-old veteran of Afghanistan's three decades of war who gained infamy for rocketing his own capital during a brief stint as prime minister in the 1990s. More recently, his supporters have carried out several devastating attacks on the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

"What's happening is the sharks are circling. Karzai is done. When you look at Hekmatyar in the current arrangement, sometimes he supports Karzai, sometimes he supports the Taliban. He'll be a wild card in this. But ultimately he's all about power," said Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's al-Qaeda division and an expert on Islamist insurgent movements."

Even among Afghan warlords, Hekmatyar's murderous brutality is legendary. From Warlords of Afghanistan.com:

When Masud finally defeated Najibullah in 1992, all the mujahideen factions converged on Kabul. Masud outwitted Hekmatyar and slipped into the city before him. A round robin of side-swapping, backstabbing, and massacre among Hekmatyar, Masud, Dostum, and Mazari followed. The citizens and buildings of Kabul were the big losers. The problem was that Masud could not be president as he was a Tajik, not a Pashtun. Afghan kings had been Pashtun for hundreds of years. Hekmatyar was the most powerful Pashtun, and had he not been such an evil sod, Masud might have accepted some kind of deal. In the end neither prevailed. The ISI switched support from the stalemated Hekmatyar and backed Mullah Omar, the new leader of the Taliban. Without ISI support, Hekmatyar’s men deserted wholesale to Mullah Omar, and he was a contender no longer.

Since thata was written, Hekmatyar has reconstituted his militia and joined the insurgency to fight alongside the Taliban. Like most Afghan warlords, he's an unrepentant backstabber and double-dealer. If a guy like Hekmatyar is key to an American plan to defang the Taliban, we're all in trouble.