Commanders Line Up Behind Karzai

Some 150 commanders affiliated with Hizb-i-Islami, a mujahedin political faction whose leader the US has designated a terrorist, have declared their support for President Hamed Karzai in the upcoming October presidential elections.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the party’s leader, could not be reached for comment. He was designated a terrorist by the US State Department in February 2003 for participation in and support for terrorist acts committed by al- Qaeda and the Taleban, and is currently in hiding.

It is unclear whether the commanders still retain their allegiance to the party leader, or whether their move reflects a split in Hizb-i-Islami between a moderate group who want to deal with the government and hardliners around Hekmatyar with links to the Taleban.

One of the commanders, General Juma Khan Hamdard, said the group decided last month to back Karzai because “he’s the most appropriate and fair person amongst the 18 candidates”.

Hamdard said he believed Hizb-i-Islami’s endorsement of Karzai would virtually ensure his election.

“When we declared our support for Karzai, he became very happy,” he said.

Hekmatyar’s Hizb-i-Islami movement was founded in the Seventies and reached the height of its power in 1992 when the Soviet-backed government of President Najibullah fell to a coalition of mujahedin factions, including Hizb-i-Islami. Hekmatyar served as prime minister in 1995, while Hamdard was one of the best-known commanders of the party in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif at the time.

The commanders affiliated with the party come from all the country’s ethnic groups, and from more than 20 provinces.

Engineer Mohammed Nasim Mehdi in Faryab, in the north of the country, Hamidullah Danishi from Badakhshan in the northwest, General Feruzoddin from Hazarajat in the center of the country, and Hamidullah Tukhi from Zabul in the south are included in this group.

Political analyst Qayoum Babak in Mazar-e-Sharif predicted that the impact of the commanders’ endorsement will be “minimal and not decisive”, because Hizb-i-Islami has much less political and military influence than it did in the past.

"There isn't any difference between this deal with Karzai and the others [Karzai] had before with warlords, " he said.

Up until August 15, General Hamdard had been the head of the Eighth Army Corps in Mazar-e-Sharif, a military unit associated with rival presidential candidate Abdul Rashid Dostum and his Junbesh-e-Milli faction.

But on August 15, Hamdard was appointed governor of the northern province of Baghlan. Technically, because he cannot hold a military post while serving in a civilian office, Hamdard is no longer a commander.

Hamdard now denies that he ever had any political ties with Dostum, although he acknowledges he still maintains “a friendship” with the Uzbek commander. “I was appointed by the central government as commander of the Eighth Army Corps and Dostum’s militia was in my corps,” Hamdard said. “I have not had any political relationship with Dostum, now or previously.”

Meanwhile Dostum’s Junbesh faction is now saying good riddance to Hamdard.

“There’s no longer a place for General Hamdard in Junbesh," said Azizullah Kargar, deputy leader of Junbesh, who insisted that Hamdard was a member of that movement when he was appointed head of the Eighth Army Corps.

Kargar said he was not concerned by the commanders’ endorsement of Karzai, “Their backing of Karzai won’t have any effect on the election campaign of General Dostum.”

Sayed Abdul Hamid, a professor in the journalism faculty who is also head of the Afghanistan Assistance Office in Mazar-e-Sharif, believes that the support of these commanders is significant. He said that Karzai wanted their support because Hizb-i-Islami still has a sizeable presence and influence in Afghanistan. It is important for Karzai, a Pashtun, to have the support of the many Pashtun commanders, including Hamdard, who are members of Hizb-i-Islami, and have a lot of influence in the Pashtun areas in the north.

According to a report prepared earlier this year by the International Crisis Group, “the incorporation of former Hizb-i-Islami personalities into the government has accelerated since the Constitutional Loya Jirga, an indication that the support extended to Karzai by the party’s erstwhile members may be more than a short-term alliance.”

Qasim Akhgar, a political analyst in Mazar, said that the commanders’ support may actually work against Karzai among some voters.

He noted that many recall the role Hizb-i-Islami played in the destruction of Kabul in 1994. Some will also recall the group’s links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, and its current ties with the Taleban.

Others said they weren’t thinking about political “deals”. As Abdullah, 25, a student of Balkh University put it: "We need just peace.”

“This deal and that deal between this person and that person are not that important. The most important thing for us is that all these manoeuvrings lead to a peaceful and secure environment," he said.

Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR reporter based in Mazar-e-Sharif.