SUMMARY
Hizb-i Wahdat, otherwise known as Unity Party, was an Afghan Shia Islamist armed group and political party established in 1989. It formed when several previously rivaling armed groups within the Hazarajat area of central Afghanistan merged with the objective of unifying the warring Shia groups and replacing the Government of Afghanistan with an Islamic regime based upon the Quran and Sunna.
The Islamist movements in Afghanistan originated 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, the resistance group Jam’iyyat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan was created by members of the Muslim Youth network. In the following years several new resistance groups were formed and after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the Islamist struggle against the communist regime became increasingly violent.
This resulted in the communist Government of Afghanistan losing authority over the Hazarajat region from 1979 and a shura or council of traditional leaders being established to administer governance responsibilities such as taxation and security. However, multiple Hazara groups soon began forming to compete against each other for dominance in the region during the 1980s. After Soviet troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan in 1989, the Government of Iran pressured these competing groups to unite in order to form a more formidable Shia counterweight to the Sunni mujahideen presence in the country. Accordingly, Hizb-i Wahdat was established on 18 July 1989. The constituent parties making up the new group included: Sazman-i-Nasr, Sepah-i Pasdaran/Pasdaran-i-Jihad-i-Islami, Nazhat-i-Islami, Shura-i-Ittefaq, Jabha-i-Mutahed-i-Inqelabi-i-Islami and Sazman-i-Nayro-i-Islami.
During the 1990s, Hizb-i-Wahdat’s loyalties shifted as numerous armed groups in Afghanistan vied for power. It initially supported the Government of Afghanistan after the Mujahideen groups ousted the communist President Mohammad Najibullah and took over in 1992. However, by December it was fighting actively against it (see Government of Afghanistan - Hizb-i Wahdat) and as a result, Hizb-i Wahdat – Akbari faction splintered from Hizb-i-Wahdat in support of the government in 1994. The leader of Hizb-i Wahdat was killed in mysterious circumstances after being abducted by the Taleban in March 1995, despite having entered an alliance with the group in the previous month. Subsequently, they fought against the Government of Afghanistan after it was taken over by the Taleban in 1996 through UIFSA, more commonly known as the Northern Alliance. Despite its military and political presence reducing as its troops scattered and leader fled to Iran after the Hizb-i Wahdat headquarters was captured by the government in 1998, it continued fighting against the government until it was overthrown in 2001 with US support. Following this, Hizb-i Wahdat became a political party.
The base of Hizb-i Wahdat was in Bamiyan province in Hazarajat, which is populated by the Hazara ethnic minority in Afghanistan. Consequently, its supporters comprised of ethnic Hazaras, who predominantly follow Shia Islam. Although, Hizb-i Wahdat began as a more radical Islamist group, it quickly became defined by its distinctive ethnic base and developed an ethnic nationalist priority for the Hazara community over Islamic solidarity. During 1992, Hizb-i Wahdat controlled the western parts of Kabul where it maintained a formidable stronghold.
Hizb-i Wahdat had an estimated troop size of 116 000 during the early 1990s. It was structured similar to a national governance system with a small Supreme Supervisory Council, shura-i ‘ali nuzrat, and a larger administrative Central Committee or shura-i markazi, that divided its responsibility into specific divisions such as medical services, judiciary, culture and military. Despite unification, each of the groups that merged to form Hizb-i Wahdat retained a level of independent structure, particularly in rural areas. Of these sub-groups, Sazman-i-Nasr was the largest and most influential.
Hizb-i Wahdat was formed and led by the original leader of Sazman-i-Nasr, Abdul Ali Mazari, until he was killed by the Taleban in 1995. He was replaced by Abdol Karim Khalili; an ethnic Hazara from Wardak province, who was educated at a religious madrasa. After the fall of the Government of Afghanistan under the Taleban, Khalili became the highest-ranking Hazara political figure by serving as the second vice-president in the Government of Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014. Haji Mohammed Mohaqiq served as the supreme military commander from 1992 and also joined the Government of Afghanistan in 2002 until 2004. “Ustad” Mohammed Akbari, founder of Pasdaran-i-Jihad-i-Islami, was another significant figure; he led a faction that splintered to form Hizb-i Wahdat – Akbari faction in 1994.
Hizb-i Wahdat allied with Hizb-i Islami-yi Afghanistan against the Government of Afghanistan in December 1992. It briefly allied with the Taleban during February and March 1995 before it joined UIFSA, in 1996 to fight against the Taleban after it took over the Government of Afghanistan (see Government of Afghanistan – UIFSA.
The Government of Iran was a significant benefactor to Hizb-i Wahdat and provided funding and arms.
