From: Abe Rein (ARein@sorosny.org)
Date: Wed Apr 02 2003 - 14:53:53 EST
...AND ISAF LAYS THE BLAME ON HEKMATYAR
Referring to the recent escalation of attacks against the ISAF,
Loebbering said on 31 March that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda "are no longer
capable of acting in a military sense" of forming battalions and
conducting maneuvers, "The Boston Globe" reported on 1 April. However,
he said that Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the radical leader of Hizb-e Islami,
"obviously has the money, influence, political will, and power to
reorganize" remnants of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda under his own
leadership. Loebbering said intelligence reports have indicated that
Hekmatyar's supporters have regrouped into 15 to 35 mobile camps, each
consisting of 10 to 30 men, along the Afghan-Pakistani border. In an
interview with Pakistan's "The Friday Times," Hekmatyar denied forming
an alliance with the Taliban or Al-Qaeda, but has welcomed them to join
in the "struggle," according to the Boston daily. Hekmatyar, who
received the lion's share of U.S. aid during the 1979-89 Soviet
occupation of Afghanistan, was also the Pakistani military's favorite
Afghan Mujahedin leader. However, he left Afghanistan in 1996 due to his
differences with the Taliban, and lived in exile in Iran until he was
expelled in 2002. He is believed to be living in Pakistan. AT
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