Interview with Afghan Insurgent Gulbuddin Hekmatyar: Can Peace Talks Succeed?
June 9th, 2010Kabul, Afghanistan-Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a veteran Afghan warlord, heads the only one of three main insurgent groups that is holding direct negotiations with the government. His group, Hizb-e-Islami, controls large swaths of the north and east, and in March it delivered to Kabul a 15-point peace proposal. But any deal with Hizb-e-Islami remains far off, due [...]
Afghanistan Insurgent Hekmatyar Shuns Peace Jirga But Offers Own Deal
June 2nd, 2010Kabul, Afghanistan - A leading Afghan insurgent says his group is ready for a peace deal, as more than a thousand delegates gathered in Kabul Wednesday to discuss ways to quell the violence in this war-ravaged country.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of Hizb-i-Islami, one of Afghanistan’s three main insurgent factions, told the Monitor in an e-mail [...]
Briefing: Who Are the Taliban?
April 16th, 2009The umbrella organization includes many different groups fighting the Afghan government and Western forces.
Kabul, Afghanistan - As the Obama administration ramps up focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan, insurgents from both countries have teamed up to confront the rising US troop presence. While the insurgents often get labeled as the “Taliban,” in reality there are [...]
Who Are the Taliban?
December 4th, 2008The Afghan War Deciphered
If there is an exact location marking the West’s failures in Afghanistan, it is the modest police checkpoint that sits on the main highway 20 minutes south of Kabul. The post signals the edge of the capital, a city of spectacular tension, blast walls, and standstill traffic. Beyond this point, Kabul’s [...]
Hekmatyar Reaching Out to Kazai? Update
May 7th, 2008It looks like we have some confirmation of last week’s post on Hekmatyar’s letter to Karzai. The Afghan online news site Quqnoos is reporting that the President is indeed close to opening talks. Might we see a return of Hekmatyar to the Afghan government? The last time Hekmatyar held a government post, [...]
Hekmatyar reaching out to Karzai?
April 29th, 2008As bullets flew and MPs scampered on Sunday, many wondered how insurgents were able to penetrate such tight security. The Taliban claims that they didn’t intend to kill Karzai, but of course you wouldn’t expect them to say otherwise. However, if history is any guide, they might actually be telling the truth. [...]
RSS: