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| US facing defeat in Afghanistan: Hekmatyar |
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Karzai reaches out to Taliban, HI on Eidul Azha
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Daud Khattak
PESHAWAR: Former prime minister of Afghanistan and chief of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbaddin Hekmatyar has said that the American and allied forces are facing defeat in Afghanistan and are devising strategies to withdraw from the war-ravaged country.
“The (puppet) Afghan government itself and many of its foreign backers have now admitted that they can’t win the war in Afghanistan and they are also under pressure from their respective people to pull out troops from the country,” said Hekmatyar in his message on the occasion of Eidul Azha, a copy of which was provided to The News.
Asking his fighters and supporters to avoid attacking innocent people and public places, Hekmatyar condemned bomb blasts in and destruction of schools, seminaries, mosques or the killing of innocent people. “This is against Islam and we believe that it is done by enemies of Muslims,” said the Hezb-e-Islami chief.
Earlier, a similar statement was released by Taliban chief Mullah Muhammad Omar to his volunteers in which he informed them about the defeat of foreign troops and asked them to avoid targeting public places and innocent people.
Hekmatyar said they were fully supporting peace talks but the only possible way to start negotiations was the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan. “Withdrawal of foreign troops without any preconditions, allowing all Afghans and groups to set together and decide their future and formation of a government to be acceptable to all are the prerequisites for the peace talks in the country,” he added.
Drawing a bleak picture of the situation in Afghanistan, the former prime minister of the war-torn country said many areas of the landlocked Afghanistan were out of the control of the government and in the hands of opponents. Neither the highways nor the bases and patrol missions of the foreign troops were safe.
Hekmatyar said the corruption was rampant in the Afghan government and only a few individuals and families were looting the national wealth of Afghanistan with both hands. In such a situation, he added, the foreign troops and their commanders had lost hope because they were facing defeat both at security and political fronts and they were struggling to find a way out.
The former Afghan prime minister recalled that the Americans and Russians had joined hands to hatch a conspiracy against Afghans. He said that after the withdrawal of the Russian troops, the two had formed the Northern Alliance and assigned them the unfulfilled mission of the Russians. Now, he said, the United States has once against joined hands with Russia to hatch a similar conspiracy once again. “Afghanistan needs another uprising at this juncture. This must be staged both against the foreign invaders and their local supporters,” he added.
At the same time, he said, there must be another Islamic revolution to restore the sovereignty of the country, ensure peace and security, put a full stop to the ongoing fighting, relieve the poor and hold all those accountable who usurped and looted the property of the poor and the national wealth.
Hekmatyar also warned some neighbouring countries, asking them not to think of taking undue advantage of the present Afghan imbroglio. At times they supported the Russians to capture Afghanistan and at times offered their helping hand to the Americans, he said without naming any country.
Hekmatyar dissociated his party from the killing of teachers, doctors, engineers, students, religious scholars, government officials and other innocent people. He condemned attacks on mosques and marketplaces and said the perpetrators were the enemies of Islam.
The Hezb chief asked the businessmen and trading community to withdraw their money from the banks in Afghanistan as the foreign troops were about to leave the country and their withdrawal would force the bank owners to close their lockups and wrap up their businesses in Kabul.
Reuters adds from Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai reached out to the Taliban on Friday, part of a call for reconciliation that the palace says will be the main focus of his second term that began last week.
Speaking to reporters outside his palace in Kabul on the first day of the Muslim Eidul Azha holiday, Karzai said: “I once again call upon our brothers, the Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami (HI) and everyone who is away from their land and who have taken up arms against their soil, to come back to their country for peace, stability, prosperity,” he said. “So that we Afghan people join hand in hand together to rebuild and prosper our beloved country.”
Hezb-e-Islami refers to followers of former anti-Soviet guerrilla commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Karzai, sworn in last week for his second five-year term, called for reconciliation with the militants in his inauguration speech and his office has said the insurgents could be asked to attend a “loya jirga”, or grand council meeting, next year.
In a rare public statement on Wednesday, the Taliban’s reclusive leader, Mullah Omar, rejected Kabul’s calls for negotiations and called on Afghans to break off ties with their “stooge” government.
The Taliban, who have intensified their insurgency to its strongest levels since being toppled by US-backed forces in 2001, have repeatedly said they will not hold talks with the government as long as there are foreign troops in Afghanistan.
US President Barack Obama is expected to announce next week a strategy that involves sending tens of thousands more troops to fight the growing insurgency. There are now about 110,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, two-thirds of them American. US officials have backed Afghan efforts to reach out to the militants, including attempts to make contact with Saudi Arabia acting as a go-between. “I will not abandon this struggle. I hope that Mullah (Omar) and other Taliban realise this act is a national necessity for peace and security,” he said.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
