Encyclopedia of Islam

Hekmatyar, Gulbuddin

  

295  J

---

revolutionary ideology of the Egyptian s

ayyid

q

Utb

 (d. 1966) and helped organize Muslim 

students against the growing influence of Marx-

ist political parties in Afghanistan. After being 

imprisoned for his political activities in 1972–73, 

he joined other Afghan radicals in Peshawar, 

p

akistan

, to plot a violent coup against the Afghan 

government with the backing of the Pakistanis. 

He was put in charge of recruiting support within 

the army. When the coup failed in July 1975, 

Hekmatyar escaped capture and execution and 

proceeded to create the Hizb-i Islami, a radical 

organization consisting of former university stu-

dents and ethnic Pushtuns.

Between 1978 and 1992, Hekmatyar and his 

group conducted a ruthless 

Jihad

 against Afghan-

istan’s Marxist government, its Soviet allies, and 

rival  a

Fghan

 

mUJahidin

 groups. He proved to be 

a charismatic leader known for his strategic skills 

and merciless treatment of his enemies. Pakistan’s 

Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) helped 

equip and train his forces during this time, and 

he became the chief recipient of covert support 

from America’s Central Intelligence Agency, which 

was using the Afghan mujahidin in its proxy war 

against the Soviet Union during the closing decade 

of the cold war. After the Soviet withdrawal and 

the downfall of the Marxist government in 1992, 

Hekmatyar established bases south of Kabul from 

which he conducted attacks against his Afghan 

rivals. The civil war between Hekmatyar and other 

Afghan warlords continued even after he became 

prime minister in 1993. His most consistent oppo-

nents were Burhan al-Din Rabbani, Tajik leader of 

the Jamiat-i Islami (Islamic Society), and Ahmad 

Shah Massoud, leader of the Tajik mujahidin. 

Kabul suffered heavy civilian casualties as a result 

of the conflict. Meanwhile, the t

aliban

, a well-

organized force of Afghan refugees and war veter-

ans, was gaining control of much of the country 

with the support of the Pakistani ISI. When they 

finally seized Kabul in September 1996, Hekmatyar 

and the other warlords were forced to flee the city. 

After 

al

-q

aida

 attacked the U

nited

 s

tates

 on Sep-

tember 11, 2001, he sided with U

sama

 

bin

  l

adin

but was forced to flee to i

ran

 when the United 

States invaded Afghanistan in October of that year. 

Iran expelled him and the Hizb-i Islami in 2002, 

and he has since gone into hiding. Hekmatyar has 

consistently called for attacks against U.S. and 

international armed forces and is considered to be 

a terrorist by the governments of the United States 

and Afghanistan.

See also 

commUnism

; i

slamism

; 

terrorism

.