Word: hezb
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...anti-American forces, by various accounts, are also finding support from a coalition of disparate groups within Afghanistan. These include the Iranian-backed Hezb-i-Islami movement, which before the Taliban came to power was one of the most dangerous factions among the Afghan mujahedin, and Ittehad-i-Islami, which has a few thousand underfunded troops in southern Afghanistan. These groups once opposed the Taliban, but Afghan intelligence sources confirm that the old disputes have been sidelined in the face of a common enemy: America and its Afghan allies. Astad Abdul Halim, Ittehad-i-Islami's Kandahar commander, blasts...
...since even before the 1979 Soviet invasion. Two weeks ago, rivalries erupted in gunfire when members of the Jamiat-i-Islami faction, a fundamentalist group, were ambushed while returning from a five-day strategy session in the northern Farkhar Valley. Gunmen from a local command of the more radical Hezb-i-Islami faction killed 30 Jamiat men, including seven military commanders. Jamiat quickly pointed an accusing finger at Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Hezb's leader, whose power struggle with the Jamiat leadership dates back to the 1970s. Without Hekmatyar's authorization, said Jamiat spokesman Mohammed Shoaib, "this incident would not have happened...
...While Hezb, which has gained a reputation for strong-arm tactics, dismissed the incident as local feuding, some Jamiat members called for immediate revenge -- even if it risked jeopardizing the plans of their military commander, Ahmad Shah Massoud, for a late-summer offensive. Most, however, cautioned restraint. The loss of key lieutenants in the ambush was already a major setback to Massoud's efforts to transform his guerrilla force into a more conventional army capable of cracking government defenses...
Because the U.S. has largely operated through the ISI, it is seen as endorsing Pakistan's vision of a friendly Islamic regime in Kabul. The rebel leader who most closely fills that bill is Hekmatyar, head of the best- disciplined guerrilla organization, Hezb-e-Islami (Islamic Party). Some ; Western experts are uncomfortable with Hekmatyar's plan to turn Afghanistan into a Muslim state governed by shari'a (Islamic law), which could take an anti-American course. Should Washington be supporting someone with the potential to be a U.S. enemy? Defenders say Hekmatyar, despite his Islamic zeal, is also a pragmatist...
...Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, 41, best-organized and most ruthless of the rebel leaders, heads a faction of the Hezb-e-Islami (Islamic Party). Despite his outspokenly anti-Western views, he is reportedly allotted 25% of the total U.S. weapon supply by the Pakistanis, more even than Rabbani. An engineer by training, Hekmatyar is a religious extremist who would keep Afghan women in purdah...