Daily Times

Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan’s chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has urged the Taliban and the Afghan government to settle on an arrangement where peace zones are declared in specific areas of the war-torn country. This will enable the exiled leadership of the militia to return to Afghanistan and the peace process to continue.

The Afghan leader was speaking to Daily Times during the visit of a Pakistani delegation to his residence in Kabul on the sidelines of the Pak-Afghan track-II dialogue, ‘Beyond Boundaries’.

Hekmatyar had returned to Kabul in May 2017, after spending nearly 20 years in hiding, after he struck a landmark peace deal with Ashraf Ghani’s government that paved the way for HIA’s participation in the political process.

During the interview, Hekmatyar argued that peace zones could enable the Taliban to return to the country and there would be no need for them to maintain offices either in Qatar or any other country.

Hekmatyar went as far as to suggest that the Taliban may have their own system of governance in the the peace zones where there will be no deployment of foreign or Afghan forces. “There will be no war and foreigners will not stay there. This will pave the way for trust building and ultimately for peace negotiations,” the Hizb chief said.

Hekmatyar said he had shared his proposal with President Ghani, ‘who was very positive’.

Sections of the Afghan media have also reported that the suggestion is under consideration by the government. However, Afghan Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah has opposed it in his recent comments to the media.

Speaking further during the interview, Hekmatyar said that at the moment the government, political leaders and groups did not have any plan to encourage the Taliban to join the peace process. He said he had suggested to President Ghani to not talk about war from his palace, and instead speak of peace and reconciliation with the Taliban.

“I have urged President Ghani to propose effective peace plans to the Taliban. He has sent positive messages to the Taliban since he unveiled his peace initiative at the meeting of Kabul Process in February this year,” he said.

Ghani had offered the Taliban to open office anywhere in Afghanistan, adding that the militia would be recognised by the government as a legitimate political movement, their prisoners would be freed and names of top Taliban leaders removed from UN sanctions lists.

Taliban have yet to respond to Ghani’s offer; they insist on direct talks with the United States – considered a major party to the conflict.

Hekmatyar recognised that Pakistan had suffered a lot because of the war in Afghanistan, losing markets in Afghanistan. He said Pakistan was the only neighbour, that suffered the most among Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries. “Others have got benefits from the war in Afghanistan. Iran has invested in the war for its own interests and economic benefits.”

“We still have war and there is a need for Pakistan and Afghanistan to work for peace,” the Hizb chief said, adding, “We support the engagement between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Gap between Pakistan and Afghanistan will harm both countries. Continuation of war will badly affect people in both countries.”

When asked about the continuation of the war, Hekmatyar said he had always urged the Taliban to join the political process like Hizb-e-Islami.

“I have also asked the U.S. former and the incumbent ambassadors to consider what have they achieved by spending billions of dollars. There has been no military and political success so far,” he said.

He said last year the war killed 36,000 people and there were only six foreigners among the dead, all others were Afghans.

“So there is no justification of this war which only kills Afghans and destroys our country,” Hekmatyar said, adding that he is satisfied with the Hizb-e-Islami peace deal with the government of President Ghani.

Hekmatyar was confident that his candidates will win in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in October this year. He called for fair and transparent elections on the basis of proportional representation and under the supervision of political parties.

To a question about Daesh presence in Afghanistan, he said Daesh was not a major issue. “Their presence has always been exaggerated.”

Hekmatyar did not agree with the notion that the US is behind Daesh in Afghanistan and said the US would not use thousands tons of bombs against Daesh in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries.

Published in Daily Times, July 2^nd 2018.