Background: split-up Hezb-e-Islami The original
Hezb-e-Islami was founded in June 1976 by
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In 1979,
Mulavi Younas Khalis made a split with Hekmatyar and established his own group, which became known as the
Khalis faction, with its power base in
Nangarhar. The remaining part of Hezb-e Islami, still headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, was since then also known as 'Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin' or HIG.
War against the Soviets and Kabul administrations During the
Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989), Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin was well-financed by anti-Soviet forces, through the Pakistani
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin has also established contacts with the British intelligence services
MI6, which provide it with military training, equipment and “propaganda” support, and its leader, Hekmatyar, met with
Margaret Thatcher at Downing Street in 1986. Since 1981 or 1985, Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin formed a part of the
Peshawar Seven alliance of Sunni Mujaheddin forces fighting the Soviet invasion. From 1979 to 1981 the group was considered the most important resistance faction of the Peshawar groups. Because of Hekmatyar's character, the group's influence waned and its image tarnished by 1983 to other Afghan mujahideen. Hekmatyar and his party operated near the
Pakistani border against Soviet Communists. Areas such as
Kunar,
Laghman,
Jalalabad, and
Paktia were Hezb-e Islami's strongholds. The party is highly centralized under Hekmatyar's command and until 1994 had close relations with Pakistan.
After 2001 The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism reports that, having lost Saudi support when it endorsed
Saddam Hussein in 1990 and lost
Pakistani support after 1994, "the remainder of Hizb-i Islami merged into
al-Qaeda and the Taliban." Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin was not the
U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations from 2001 to 2006. However, it was on the additional 2007 list called "Groups of Concern". Radio Free Europe reports that "in 2006, Hekmatyar appeared in a video aired on the Arabic language Al-Jazeera television station and declared he wanted his forces to fight alongside Al-Qaeda." According to
Le Monde newspaper, as of 2007, the group was active around
Mazari Sharif and
Jalalabad. HIG took credit for a 2008 attack on a military parade that nearly killed Karzai, an August 2008 ambush near Kabul that left ten French soldiers dead, and an October 3, 2009 attack by 150 insurgents that overwhelmed a remote outpost in
Nuristan Province, killing eight American soldiers and wounding 24. Jamestown Foundation reported in 2004 that, according to Deputy Speaker of Parliament Sardar Rahmanoglu, HIA members "occupy around 30 to 40 percent of government offices, from cabinet ministers to provisional and other government posts." , the International Security Assistance Force estimated that the military component of Hezbi Islam was about 1,000 strong, including part-time fighters. , the non-violent faction of the Hezbi Islami was a registered political party in Afghanistan led by
Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal. In early March 2010, elements of the Taliban and the HIG were reportedly fighting in
Baghlan province. Scores of Hizb-e-Islami militants, including 11 commanders and 68 fighters, defected on Sunday [7 March 2010] and joined the Afghan government as a clash between the group and the Taliban left 79 people dead, police said.
Peace negotiations 2010–2016 On the celebration of
Nowruz, New Year's Day, of 1389 (March 21, 2010, Western calendar)
Harun Zarghun, chief spokesman for Hizb-i-Islami, said that a five-member delegation was in Kabul to meet with government officials and that there were also plans to meet with Taliban leaders somewhere in Afghanistan.
Khalid Farooqi, a member of the parliament from
Paktika province, confirmed that two delegations from Hizb-i-Islami had shown up. Zarghun, the group's spokesman in Pakistan, said that the delegation had a 15-point plan that called for the retreat of foreign forces in July 2010 – a full year ahead of President Barack Obama's intended withdrawal. The plan also called for the replacement of the current Afghan parliament in December 2010 by an interim government, or
shura, which then would hold local and national elections within a year. Zarghun said that a new Afghan constitution would be written, merging the current version with ones used earlier. The same day, Afghanistan's vice-president
Mohammad Qasim Fahim reached out to militants at the Nowruz New Year celebrations in
Mazar-i-Sharif in Northern Afghanistan. He declared that, with their input, a coming national conference would lay the foundations for peace. He called on resistance forces to participate in a
jirga, or assembly, planned for late April or early May. In late January 2012, America's special envoy to the region
Marc Grossman talked peace and reconciliation with
Hamid Karzai in
Kabul, though the Afghan president made it clear that Afghans should be in the driver's seat; hours before the meeting, Karzai said he personally held peace talks recently with the insurgent faction Hizb-i-Islami, appearing to assert his own role in a U.S.-led bid for negotiations to end the country's decade-long war. On 18 September 2012, Hezbi Islami claimed responsibility of a suicide attack in Kabul, carried out by an 18-year-old woman in which nine people were killed. They said it was in retaliation for the film
Innocence of Muslims. All victims were themselves Muslim. On 16 May 2013, Hezbi Islami claimed responsibility for another attack in Kabul in the form of an explosive-loaded
Toyota Corolla that was rammed into a pair of American military vehicles in which 16 people were killed. In July 2015, Afghan media outlets reported that Hekmatyar had called on followers of Hezb-e Islami to support the militant group
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the fight against the Taliban. Reuters quoted a spokesman for Hizb-i-Islami as denying this, and calling the earlier reports a fake.
2010 Badakhshan massacre In August 2010, Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin was possibly responsible for the
2010 Badakhshan massacre.
Alleged ties to North Korea Although a rocket attack reported to have happened in 2007, killing all on board and destroying the vehicle, fit the characteristics of the mentioned North Korean rocket, the report remains unverified. No such Dr. Amin has surfaced of late.
2016 peace deal On 22 September 2016, the government of Afghanistan signed a draft peace deal with Hezb-i-Islami. According to the draft agreement, Hezb-i-Islami agreed to cease hostilities, cut ties to extremist groups and respect the Afghan Constitution, in exchange for government recognition of the group and support for the removal of
United Nations and American sanctions against Hekmatyar, who was also promised an honorary post in the government. The agreement was formalised on 29 September with both Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Hekmatyar who appeared via a video link into the presidential palace, signing the agreement. The Afghan government formally requested UN in December 2016 for removal of sanctions against the group's leaders. The sanctions against Hekmatyar were lifted by the UN on 3 February 2017. On June 14, 2018, 180 individuals tied to Hezbi Islami were released from prison. ==Accused combatant prisoners at Guantanamo==