History
During the Soviet War in Afghanistan, 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, from which it received as much $600 million in U.S. aid money to fight the war with the Soviets. Despite its ample funding, it has been described as having
| “ | the dubious distinction of never winning a significant battle during the war, training a variety of militant Islamists from around the world, killing significant numbers of mujahideen from other parties, and taking a virulently anti-Western line. In addition to hundreds of millions of dollars of American aid, Hekmatyar also received the lion's share of aid from the Saudis. | ” |
Frustrated by the enormously destructive warlord feuding in Afghanistan, including the Hebi Islami shelling of Kabul in April 1992, Pakistan abandoned HIG for the Taliban in 1994. The bombardment of the capital by HIG in 1994, for example, is reported to have "resulted in the deaths of more than 25,000 civilians."
HIG was expelled from Kabul by the Taliban in September 1996 and many of its local commanders joined the Taliban "both out of ideological sympathy and for reason of tribal solidarity." In Pakistan Hezb-e-Islami training camps "were taken over by the Taliban and handed over" to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) groups such as the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP).
Read more about this topic: Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin
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