Former Afghan warlord Hekmatyar says he wants peace

Kabul: A former Afghan warlord who battled US forces after the 2001 invasion and nursed bitter rivalries with other militant factions before signing a peace deal with the Afghan government appeared in public for the first time in more than 20 years on Saturday and called for peace.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who leads the Islamist organisation Hezb-i-Islami, appeared in a gathering organised by provincial officials in eastern Laghman province in which locals and government officials were also present. He told the crowd in a televised appearance: “Let’s join hands to end war and bring peace in Afghanistan.”

The UN removed Hekmatyar’s name from its Islamic State group and al-Qaida sanctions list in February and his assets were unfrozen and he is no longer subject to a travel ban or arms embargo.

During his remarks, Hekmatyar called on all insurgent groups to end the war and join the peace process in Afghanistan. He pointed to a recent attack by Taliban fighters on an army base in northern Balkh province, saying: “We cannot tolerate such a war and killing of Muslims inside a mosque while they are praying to Allah.” Hekmatyar said only Afghans can bring peace and stability to the country, not foreigners.

In September last year, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani signed a peace treaty with Hekmatyar in which Ghani pledged to lobby the US and the UN to remove him and his party from terrorist blacklists. Hekmatyar signed the agreement via video link to Kabul’s presidential palace. The ceremony was broadcast live on TV.

In an annual ceremony Saturday marking the 25th anniversary of the victory of the Mujahiddin over the former communist government, Abdullah Abdullah, the country’s chief executive officer, said he was happy Hekmatyar had embraced peace.

Abdullah said that as a result of the agreement signed earlier, Hekmatyar today is “in his own country and on his own soil, proudly among his own people and the Afghan people have welcomed him, too.”