Re: Would a responsible civilian leadership have allowed our proxy war against USSR?
Are you saying Gulbadin Hikmatyaar was not one of the key players in Afghan “Jihad”? The seed was sown under Bhuuto’s watch, Zia nurtured it, and AlQaeeda is the fruit. Denying history will not change the facts. The sooner we learn from past mistakes and grow out of rather ignorant “uncle sam doesn’t like this or that” argument, the better future we may have.
“with blessing of President ZAB” seems to be a lie and subjective reporting. In 1974 Bhutto was PM and not the president as wrongly reported. Further more camps were estabilished with the help of ISI to favour antiDaud movement, the Afghan leader and it had nothing to do with war with Russia. Again I know ZAB, he would have never allowed CIA jehadi agenda in Pakistan like Zia did in the 80’s. Read as follows:
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar enrolled in 1970 to Kabul University department of engineering. Although he did not graduate Gulbuddin Hekmatyar got the nickname ‘Hekmatyar Engineer’. As a student he was known in his extreme approach toward Islam and for throwing acid on female students who didn’t wear the veil. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was also a member in the illegal Muslim Youth group. In 1972 Gulbuddin Hekmatyar murdered a Maoist student and was sentenced to jail. In 1974 he got amnesty by the new PM Daoud Khan and fled Afghanistan to Pakistan , where he established contact with the Pakistani intelligence – ISI . Daoud Khan advocated the formation of a Pashtu based state, which would include also North-West Pakistan and cause tension with the Pakistani Regime.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was authorized by the Pakistani General Naseerullah Babar, then governor of the NWFP – North West Frontier provinces, and with the blessing of President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, to set up camps to train Hekmatyar’s followers and other anti-Daoud Islamists in order to fight Daoud Khan in Afghanistan. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar also founded in 1975, with ISI in the background, theHezb-i islami (Islamic Party) which was basically a small neglected group, one of many in the conglomerate of Islamic groups created by the notorious Pakistani Intelligence – ISI.
When the Russia ns invaded Afghanistan in 1979, radical Gulbuddin Hekmatyar found himself supported by the American CIA with money and weapons in order to use his Militia against the Russians. Indeed Gulbuddin Hekmatyar became one of the most prominent anti-Russians guerilla commanders in the Afghan war, which lasted up to 1989. He was notorious for constantly quarreling with other guerilla leaders and for his large scale drug business.