SUMMARY
Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan (Islamic Party of Afghanistan) is an Afghan rebel group and a political party. It is sometimes referred to as HIG, short for Hizb-i Islami Gulbuddin or HIH, short for Hizb-i Islami Hekmatyar, after its leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Hizb-i Islami was one of the seven main insurgency groups based in Pakistan during the 1980s and 1990s, commonly referred to as the Mujahideen. The groups made several attempts to unite in an alliance during this time period, both in order to increase their combat strength but also because the external donors, primarily the US, preferred to support one cohesive organisation rather than numerous dispersed groups. During the second half of the 1980s and in the early 1990s, Hizb-i Islami was part of a loose alliance, the Islamic Unity of the Afghan Mujahideen, together with Mahaz-i Milli-yi Islami-yi Afghanistan, Jabha-yi Nijat-i Milli-yi Afghanistan, Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami-yi Afghanistan, Jamiyyat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan, Ittihad-i Islami Bara-yi Azadi-yi Afghanistan, and Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan - Khalis faction.
The Islamist movements in Afghanistan originate from a cell of intellectuals at Kabul University. In the 1950s, the theology faculty opened, and graduates could travel to other Muslim universities. Inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, a group called the Muslim Youth was formed in the mid-1960s. As a reaction to a communist-backed coup in 1973, Jam’iyyat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan was created by members of the Muslim Youth network. One of the Islamist students recruited by the leader Burhanuddin Rabbani was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In 1975, Jam’iyyat-i Islami captured a district in the Panjsher Valley north of Kabul. The uprising failed as the population turned against the rebels and supported the army instead, forcing the Islamist fighters to take refuge in Pakistan. Hekmatyar, together with the most radical elements of the organisation, left Jam’iyyat-i Islami and established a separate rebel group, Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan. Jam’iyyat-i Islami’s members were predominantly Tajik, in contrast to Hekmatyar’s Hizb-i Islami whose followers were mainly Pashtun. Hekmatyar was born in Konduz province in northeastern Afghanistan, and his group has had its stronghold in the eastern and northeastern parts of the country.
After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the Islamist struggle against the communist regime became increasingly violent and Hizb-i Islami, and the other Mujahideen groups, increased their manpower and strength. Hekmatyar remained the leader of the group, although he was based at the headquarters in Peshawar, Pakistan. When the Mujahideen groups ousted the Soviet imposed, communist President Mohammad Najibullah in 1992, a fierce power struggle broke out between Jam’iyyat-i Islami, who led the interim government, and Hizb-i Islami. In 1993, Hekmatyar was appointed Prime Minister of Afghanistan, but continued to fight President, and Jam’iyyat-i Islami leader, Rabbani. Thousands of people were killed in Kabul in 1994 alone, as Hekmatyar and his allies sieged the capital. When the Taleban captured Kabul in 1996, Hekmatyar fled to Iran, but many of his followers joined the Taleban movement. When the US-supported Northern Alliance ousted the Taleban in 2001, Hizb-i Islami restated their incompatibility against the Afghan government and its US allies, and has since then fought for control of the government. In 2003, Hekmatyar was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US. Although Hizb-i Islami, to some extent, share the goal of the Taleban and support their cause, the group has kept its own command structure. Some cooperation between the groups is likely to have taken place, but they have also fought each other in violent encounters.
In 2004, a political party with the name Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan was formed by former commanders from the armed group led by Hekmatyar. In the presidential elections the same year, they announced their support for President Hamid Karzai, and have in recent years had some seats in the parliament. No formal connections between the political party and Hekmatyar or the armed group have been established, but there have been allegations that the political group communicates with Hekmatyar and that they are striving to include him in the government. In 2016 peace negotiations took place between the Afghan government and Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan, resulting in a peace agreement in September that year. The deal granted Hekmatyar amnesty, and following the peace agreement he returned to Afghanistan.
Hizb-i Islami has received large-scale military and financial support from various countries. During the 1980s and early 1990s, countries such as United States, France and United Kingdom supported the Islamist insurgents in an attempt to counter-balance the Soviet influence in Afghanistan. Several Arab countries, for example Saudi Arabia and Egypt, also supplied funds and arms. Almost all of the military aid was handled by the Pakistani ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). The two countries that provided most support to the Mujahideen were United States and Saudi Arabia. In 1979, the US President Jimmy Carter authorized a program of covert military assistance to the Mujahideen groups. Until 1992, when military aid ceased, the US gave $2-3 billion to the Islamist insurgents, a sum which was matched by Saudi Arabia. Hizb-i Islami received the largest share of the external support, around 20%, and Hekmatyar was frequently described as the US’ and the ISI’s favourite actor in Afghanistan during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan has been involved in the intrastate and non-state categories of UCDP organised violence.
