As Afghan President Hamid Karzai reaches out to militants before next month’s peace council, some human-rights activists say they are concerned with the types of individuals who may enter the government. Earlier this week, President Karzai met with a high-level delegation from the Hezb-e-Islami insurgent group. The leader of that faction is a well-known polarizing figure.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar first rose to prominence in Afghanistan during the 1970s when he founded Hezb-e-Islami, which means “The Islamic Party.”
Despite its origins in university student groups, Hekmatyar’s organization soon became known as one of the major Afghan guerrilla factions, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
During the next decade, the United States spent billions of dollars in covert assistance to fight the Soviet forces. U.S. officials funneled the money through Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, and the lion’s share went to Hekmatyar.
The ISI director general in the 1980s, Hamid Gul, says he knows Hekmatyar well. He told me the ethnic-Pashtun mujahideen leader, who originally studied in the university to become an engineer, was an important asset for both the United States and Pakistan at the time. Read the rest of this entry »
Pakistanis have told me that the images coming from the relief effort in Haiti remind them of their own country’s massive earthquake five years ago. The effects of that disaster still are visible. But despite Pakistan’s current hardships, some people, such as Abdul Sattar Edhi, are working to send aid to the small Caribbean nation. Watch the story below:
My interview with Edhi — who is known in some quarters for his humanitarian works as Pakistan’s “Father Teresa” — occurred a few weeks after the earthquake struck Haiti. I spoke to him by phone today to see if his wait for visas was over. It isn’t.
Initially, Edhi had gone to the Cuban Embassy in Islamabad to get visas for himself and his fellow team members. However, he said Cuban officials denied their requests because the U.S. military is managing the traffic in and out of Haiti’s main ports of entry.
Edhi then went to the U.S. Embassy. He has a permanent Green Card for the United States, but his team members do not. Today, Edhi said he is frustrated because U.S. officials gave him the impression that his team would not receive any visas for at least six months.
The United States has tightened restrictions on issuing visas during the past few years. In addition, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman told me today that humanitarian efforts are not given any special consideration, and everyone has to go through the same process.
So as it stands, there is at least a million dollars and a team of workers with quake experience on stand by, half-a-world away.
What do you think? I’d love to read your comments below about your views on the situation.
I spoke with former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Najmuddin Shaikh, and he says that Pakistan does not think a military strategy can achieve peace in Afghanistan. Instead, he says Pakistanis believe that they should help promote a political resolution. Watch the story below:
We also discussed a point that Shaikh says international debates are not covering enough: the Pakistan-India dynamic.
The two nuclear powers have fought three wars against each other over the years. Now, India is a major donor in Afghanistan, and Shaikh says Pakistani officials suspect India has strengthened its influence in the war-torn country.
The former foreign secretary also says Pakistanis worry that there is a shortage of troops on their eastern border.
A large number of the Pakistani army’s fighting force is now concentrated in the country’s western regions battling Taliban militants. Shaikh says that if the United States had its way, more Pakistani troops would battle along that border, especially in the North Waziristan tribal area where Jalaluddin Haqqani’s Taliban network is centered.
Coalition commanders say the Haqqani network is a major cause of instability in eastern Afghanistan. These Taliban fighters fled Afghanistan following the U.S.-led invasion, and now operate largely with impunity from the Pakistani military.
I asked Shaikh if Pakistan views the Haqqani network as a strategic asset in Afghanistan in order to counterbalance India’s influence.
Shaikh replied that Jalaluddin Haqqani was “the most capable commander by my reckoning in the resistance against the Soviets and was certainly someone that the Americans talked to in the aftermath of 9/11.” He added that the fighting situation could make for “strange bedfellows” if the future of the Haqqani network remains at the forefront of Pakistan’s relationships with Afghanistan and the United States.
Pakistan had told FB to "...stop all such activities hurting the sentiments of Pakistani subscribers" / gov defending against hurt feelings?10:26:52 AM July 27, 2010from web
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