Afghanistan's swirl into yet another turmoil
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PESHAWAR: Afghanistan is all set to witness yet another turmoil and civil war between the two waring groups which have been allies in the past.
The Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami (Hekmatyar) are gradually confronting each other following the latter’s peace deal with the Afghan government in September last year.
The Hezb-i-Islami, led by former mujahideen leader Gulbaddin Hekmatyar, is now an ally of the unity government of President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Dr Abdullah and, therefore, an enemy of the Taliban.
Though Hekmatyar hasn’t yet gone to Kabul and is still in hiding waiting for removal of his name from the UN ‘blacklist’ his party is now bound in an agreement with the government under which it would support the existing political dispensation, Constitution and most of its policies.
Taliban are angry over the peace agreement, but they don’t want to give it much importance due to Hekmatyar’s insignificant military power and the splintering of his party into at least three factions.
The recent suicide attack in Kabul on the house of Muallim Mir Wali, an MP from Helmand province who was previously part of Hezb-i-Islami during the Afghan jihad against the Soviet occupation forces, contributed to the growing feud between the Taliban and Hekmatyar’s supporters.
Though Taliban claimed they attacked important participants of a security meeting held in Muallim Mir Wali’s home to discuss the situation in Helmand, the death of women and children in the incident fuelled anger against the Taliban.
It also prompted Hezb-i-Islami’s military commanders and MPs to issue a joint statement, condemning the attack and criticizing the Taliban for targetting a house with women, children and other civilians. They said it showed Taliban’s enmity with Hezb-i-Islami.
Recently, there have been two other attacks on Hezb-i-Islami figures. There were no claims of responsibility though some may see Taliban hands in these two killings.
