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Carrot games in
Afghanistan
By Syed Saleem
Shahzad
KARACHI - With the consolidation
of US-backed President Hamid Karzai's position in
Afghanistan following elections late last year,
the administration in Kabul is seeking to further
entrench itself so that the US can retain and
expand its presence in landlocked Afghanistan and
beyond to the warm waters of the Arabian Sea.
Evidence of this can be found in the
recent release of hundreds of Taliban detainees
after local tribes in different areas guaranteed
that their men would not volunteer for any anti-US
movement in the region.
Taking advantage
of the Afghan resistance's shattered situation,
resulting from a lack of funds, no safe sanctuary
and no external help, the US aims to woo as many
resistance commanders as it can.
However,
the real political developments are taking place
between the Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) of
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the US: the HIA, even if
Hekmatyar refuses to agree to a ceasefire, will be
allowed to participate in the parliamentary
elections scheduled for later this year. The HIA,
which was once the largest resistance group
against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in
the 1980s, remains an important component of the
current Afghan resistance.
Well placed
sources in Peshawar inform Asia Times Online that
backroom negotiations with top HIA members appear
to have reached a concluding phase in which the
HIA will be allowed to keep its influence in Kabul
and Pashtun-dominated areas in Afghanistan.
The US bid to woo the HIA turned serious
when US officials met with Hekmatyar's son,
British-educated Jamal Din, in Afghanistan. Din
acted as an intermediary between the US and
Hekmatyar. However, Hekmatyar himself is holding
out for nothing short of a complete withdrawal of
foreign forces from Afghanistan, a demand which is
unacceptable to the US.
Nevertheless,
Hekmatyar might be isolating himself. A top HIA
commander, Ustad Fareed, who was Hekmatyar's
confidant and active in the resistance, has
quietly moved to Kabul, where he now lives as a
private citizen. Observers in Peshawar see this as
a major development in a possible deal between the
HIA and the US.
The chief of the HIA in
Pakistan and a former deputy prime minister of the
interim government in Kabul, Dr Qutubuddin Hilal,
also visited Afghanistan and held talks with
Karzai. However, since Hilal only put forward
Hekmatyar's hardline demand for the withdrawal of
foreign forces, the talks did not achieve
anything.
A few months ago, Hilal visited
the United Kingdom for treatment for an illness.
"Of course, everybody knows that Dr Hilal, the US
and Britain still see the HIA as a terrorist
organization, and it is also a fact that Dr Hilal
did not sneak into the UK, but acquired a visa
from the UK High Commission in Islamabad. What can
I say, everything is crystal clear before you. We
know that Mullah Omar [Taliban leader] or any of
his confidants cannot travel like this," said an
HIA official in Peshawar on condition of
anonymity.
Recently, Hilal returned to
Peshawar, where he is bedridden because of his
illness.
At the same time, the US has
started a new campaign in the shape of newspaper
advertisements. These carry photographs of
al-Qaeda members and Osama bin Laden and offer
rewards for information leading to their capture.
The latest addition is Mullah Omar. However,
Hekmatyar's name is not mentioned.
Clearly, the US is prepared to make major
political bargains with as many Taliban and HIA
officials as it can.
The Afghan national
resistance had consolidated on firm ground by the
end of 2002, and was about to enter its final
phase, but this was cut short, mainly because
Pakistan, under US pressure, stepped up its
activities against the resistance in the tribal
belt: several powerful Taliban bases were
destroyed.
"At present, there are hundreds
of Afghan diehards who were educated in HIA
schools in Peshawar and are ready to sacrifice
their lives fighting against US troops in
Afghanistan, but there are two issues without
which participation in the resistance is
near-impossible. A safe sanctuary like Pakistan,
from where the Afghan resistance fought against
the former USSR, and second, the leadership to
organize the fighters from the safe sanctuary and
direct them in operations. At present, we do not
have a base to organize our youths, and our
leadership is unable to command the youths as they
do not have any base," said an HIA official in
Peshawar.
"Right now everybody is
demoralized. A large number of HIA officials, like
Maulvi Sarfraz Janbaz, Qasim Hamat and others,
have left the party and established themselves in
Kabul and represent themselves as HIA members.
Hekmatyar is on the run and every other day we
hear news about commanders and members leaving,"
the official said.
"Here in Peshawar, it
looks difficult for the old leadership like
Hekmatyar and Mullah Omar to reunite the scattered
movement once again," the same official said.
Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau
Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be
reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
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