UN Removed Afghan Warlord Hekmatyar from Sanctions List

February 6th, 2017

Awake Goy

nsnbc : The United Nations, on Saturday, removed Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the Hezb-i-Islami group from its list of persons sanctioned due to ties to Al-Qaeda and ISIL.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) stated: “On 3 February 2017, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), AlQaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities removed the name below from the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List. Therefore, the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 2 of Security Council resolution 2253 (2015) no longer apply to the name set out below.”

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar rose to fame as an infamous warlord during the civil war and war in Afghanistan in the 1990s. He was among others accused of indiscriminately firing rockets into the capital Kabul and a cohort of serious human rights abuses. Analysts disagree about the importance of Hekmatyar and his role during the 1990s.

It is noteworthy that he was an associate of R. Tayyip Erdogan who later would become the Prime Minister, and then President of Turkey. It was only in 2013 that Erdogan and his AKP government took initiative and designated Hekmatyar as a terrorist.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the overthrow of the Taliban government, the U.S. State Department designated Hekmatyar as a terrorist because of his alleged support of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

It is noteworthy that former U.S. Security Adviser Zbigniev Brzezinski repeatedly and openly claimed credit for creating the “mujahedeen” and Al-Qaeda so as to lure the now disbanded Soviet Union into a war in Afghanistan.Brzezinsky would express that “a few radical Muslims who die” are not as important as defeating the Soviet Union.

Several human rights organizations did not take the UN’s decision to remove Hekmatyar from the sanctions list lightly. However, no rights organization that nsnbc is aware of has demanded that Zbigniev Brzezinski or R. Tayyip Erdogan be put on the sanctions list instead.

The agreement to remove Hekmatyar from the sanctions list was reached in 2016 after Hekmatyar agreed not to pursue any of his possible ambitions by use of arms. In September 2016, Hekmatyar had signed treaties with the Ashraf Ghani government, in a bid to remove his party from the terrorist lists. After the signing of the agreement the Afghan government formally sent a letter to the UNSC asking to remove Hematyar’s name from the sanctions list and pardon him.

Meanwhile, Hezb-i-Islami’s chief peace negotiator, Amin Karim said that the removal of Hekmatyar’s name shows that political discussions are the “only logical way to achieve peace in Afghanistan.” Whether the removal of Hekmatyar’s name will have an impact on promoting peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan remains to be seen. It also remains to be seen whether or not the government of President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah agrees to discuss with Hekmatyar.

CH/L – nsnbc 05.02.2017

Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/02/05/82040/