Afghanistan Offers Amnesty to Jihadist Group Hezb-i-Islami

Afghanistan initiated a draft peace agreement with long-time foe Hezb-I-Islami on May 18th around noon. Mohammad Khan, a deputy to Afghanistan’s Chief Executive, stated the peace draft was a positive step, but more needed to be done to finalize the deal.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the group’s founder attended the peace accord meeting. Hekmatyar is best known as mujahedeen leader in Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war and for his political role as Prime Minister of Afghanistan in the 1990s until being ousted by the Taliban. Since then, he has been fighting an insurgent war against his home country from an undisclosed location in Pakistan.

Hekmatyar’s history of alleged war crimes has led to opposition to the peace deal from human rights groups.

He is alleged to have conducted numerous terrorists attacks in Afghanistan, and in 2003, the US State Department placed him on the international terror list.

Hekmatyar has connections with Sunni jihadists, including the late Osama Bin Laden, and is cited as a supporter of attacks by al Qaeda and the Taliban. His supposed connections to terrorist organizations also includes Islamic State. Media outlets reported the group had pledged their fealty to in July of 2015, but Hekmatyar later denied the claim.

Hezb-I-Islami has not been officially listed on the U.S. Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organization even after the group was claimed to have killed two US soldiers and four US civilian contractors in a 2013 suicide-bombing.

The final aspect of the peace deal would require Afghanistan to have Hezb-I-Islami removed from a UN blacklist, a process only approved by the UN Security Council. The Taliban has also requested removal from the blacklist in January as a prerequisite to peace talks. Such a decision would allow members of the group to travel freely around the world in addition to unfreezing the group’s financial assets, a decision unlikely to be made.

The proposed peace accords with Hezb-I-Islami comes at a time when joint peace and reconciliation talks between Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, and the U.S. are underway. This international dialogue is aimed at pacifying the insurgent forces in Afghanistan, most notably, the Taliban, and other such groups, including Hezb-I-Islami.

The Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) held its fifth round of meetings in Islamabad on May 18th, since its inception in January, and continues to work toward peace in a country torn by war.