Word: hezb
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...troops have been showing more gumption than expected. Around Jalalabad, a city the Soviets left three months ago, Afghan troops have thrown back repeated rebel assaults. So far, the mujahedin are holding only two dozen small towns. Concedes a senior aide to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of a rebel Hezb-e-Islami faction: "They ((Najibullah's forces)) have fought much better than expected...
...their Soviet allies willing to see them beaten in a major engagement, as they nearly were at Kunduz. The city of about 40,000, straddling a main road to the Soviet border 37 miles away, fell to units of Jamiat-i-Islami and Gulbuddin's Hezb-e-Islami six days after the 10,000-man Soviet garrison pulled out. The guerrillas overran the government defenders and freed the prisoners at the local jail, but failed to capture the heavily defended airport. Within two days government reinforcements closed in, and Soviet aircraft went to work. After three days of fighting...
...lesson the hard way at Kandahar last week when insurgents of Jamiat-i-Islami broke off attacks on strategic high ground around Baba Wali, a heavily fortified point overlooking the city, after coming under air and artillery barrages from entrenched government forces. An assault by fighters of Yunis Khalis' Hezb-e-Islami last month on outposts screening Jalalabad was similarly thrown back at the cost of as many as 50 mujahedin lives. Such large-scale attacks under heavy fire are something new for the guerrilla forces. Says Abdul Qadir, a senior rebel commander with Khalis: "The mujahedin are not ready...
...simply do not want to do business with Najib. Says Mohammed Nuristani, a rebel fighter: "How can we sit down with a man who has killed so many of our friends?" Another reason is the rivalry among rebel leaders. They range from religious zealots like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hezb-e-Islami (Gulbuddin), who want to erect a theocratic state, to Muslim moderates like Pir Gailani who favor the traditional Afghan way of life...
...power grab by Gailani for leadership of the insurgents would be challenged-probably without much success -by at least two other rebel leaders. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, 32, an engineer who studied at Kabul University, is highly regarded for his administrative skills. But his base of support, an organization called Hezb-i-Islami, may be too rigidly Muslim in outlook for some rebels. Another Muslim group, Jamiat-i-Islami, is led by Burhanuddin Rabbani, 40, a former professor of religion at Kabul University. Although Jamiat is considered more tolerant than Hekmatyar's group, Rabbani has no personal following outside...