Word: gulbuddin
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...past eight years, Afghan rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has been a phantom presence on the edges of the Afghan insurgency. His Hezb-i-Islami militia - said to number between 2,000 and 3,000 fighters, and which operates independently of the Taliban - has carried out scores of ambushes on coalition forces in the northeastern mountains of Afghanistan and has claimed credit for two attempts on the life of President Hamid Karzai...
...play a part to try and bring in people that may be supporting the Taliban but are not ideologues." Such a solution would probably not involve Mullah Omar and the Afghan Taliban directly but would perhaps include the notorious Haqqani network based in Pakistan's North Waziristan and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hizb-e-Islami - both of which have enjoyed extensive contacts with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency...
...Afghanistan, the national Taliban movement co-opted local grievances. (Taliban, these days, no longer refers just to the regime that once ruled the country; the word has become synonymous with any number of antigovernment forces.) Tribal elders say the fight in the Korengal is directed and funded by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a warlord who was once backed by the U.S. and has links to al-Qaeda. Nevertheless, says valley elder Sham Sher Khan, the way to counter the insurgency hasn't changed. He thinks reopening the timber trade would help. "The Taliban say they are fighting because there are Americans here...
...Grenier adds, the Pakistanis may be in for a rude shock if they think they can depend on relationships with anti-American warlords like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani. "Hekmatyar is a bad player, and if the Pakistanis think they can get into this dance with him and win, they are mistaken," he says. "And that's even more true of Haqqani." (See pictures from the front lines of the battle with the Taliban...
...there is any doubt about whether the Nooristan attack was staged by the Taliban, it's because it is an area where Gulbuddin Hekmatyar holds some sway. Hekmatyar is one of the most ruthless warlords in Afghanistan's history, though he received financial support from the U.S. during the war with the Soviets. The government of Hamid Karzai has offered Hekmatyar a controversial olive branch in recent months. However, Tamim Nooristani, the ex-governor of the province, told TIME that Hekmatyar's men took part in the attack along with Pakistani and Afghan Taliban...