| | Hekmatyar splits with Taliban, hints at talks with Karzai government The Associated Press
03/08/2007
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KARACHI - Fugitive Afghan rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar told The Associated Press his forces have ended cooperation with the Taliban and suggested that he was open to talks with embattled President Hamid Karzai.
In a video response to questions submitted by AP, Hekmatyar also recounted how U.S. forces nearly caught him on two occasions but he got away.
Hekmatyar, speaking in front of a plain white wall at an undisclosed location, indicated that his group contacted Taliban leaders some time in 2003 and agreed to wage a joint jihad, or holy war, against American troops.
"The jihad went into high gear but later it gradually went down as certain elements among the Taliban rejected the idea of a joint struggle against the aggressor," Hekmatyar said. He said his forces were now mounting only restricted operations, partly because of a lack of resources.
Still, Hekmatyar, who once served as Afghan prime minister, insisted he had a large pool of fighters who could sustain a long struggle and sent a defiant message to President George W. Bush that he had no hope of defeating the insurgency.
The Taliban is vowing to intensify its resistance this spring, and says it has thousands of forces deployed in southern Afghanistan, where NATO this week launched its biggest offensive yet. There's been no indication that Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami, which is more active in eastern Afghanistan, would also ramp up its attacks.
Hezb-i Islami was a central player in the CIA-backed mujahedeen resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and in the civil war that followed, but was sidelined by the Taliban militia's rise to power in the mid-1990s.
Nevertheless, Hekmatyar opposed the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001 that pushed the Taliban from power and his followers have since waged a campaign of violence against American and allied forces. Hekmatyar's exact whereabouts have been unknown since he returned from exile in Iran in 2002.
AP's questions to Hekmatyar were submitted through an intermediary three weeks ago. There was no indication of where or exactly when the video was shot.
Asked if he would consider opening negotiations with Karzai, Hekmatyar gave his most explicit offer yet to talk ? albeit with conditions the U.S.-backed government would be unlikely to accept.
He said dialogue was the best way to resolve Afghanistan's problems.
"But we say that dialogue can only be fruitful if the aggressors truly allow the Kabul government to halt the fighting, negotiate with the mujahedeen and honor what Kabul and the resistance decide," said Hekmatyar, wearing spectacles and a black turban.
"This is the prime and basic demand of the Afghan nation and if such a conducive environment could be provided, we can go for dialogue with Karzai."
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