Afghanistan was set yesterday to sign a draft peace agreement with notorious warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, paving the way for his political return, despite a history of war crimes and after years in hiding.
Hekmatyar, who heads the now largely dormant Hezb-i-Islami militant group, is the latest in a series of controversial figures that Kabul has sought to reintegrate in the post-Taliban era.
The deal with the second-biggest militant group marks a symbolic victory for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who has struggled to revive peace talks with the more powerful Taliban.
The government said an “initial draft agreement” would be signed by Hekmatyar’s delegation and the Afghan High Peace Council, which is responsible for reconciliation efforts with militants.
“Fortunately, after two years of negotiations between the Afghanistan’s High Peace Council and the Hizb-e-Islami, the peace negotiations have been successfully completed, and a [draft] agreement between both sides has been finalized,” the council said in a statement.
“This peace agreement will be implemented after it is formally signed by President Ashraf Ghani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar,” it added, without specifying a date.
Hekmatyar was a prominent anti-Soviet commander in the 1980s and stands accused of killing thousands of people in Kabul during the 1992 to 1996 civil war.
The potential deal has sparked revulsion from human rights groups.
“[Hekmatyar’s] return will compound the culture of impunity that the Afghan government and its foreign donors have fostered, by not pursuing accountability for the many victims of forces commanded by Hekmatyar and other warlords that laid waste to much of the country in the 1990s,” Human Rights Watch said last month.
According to an initial draft agreement, the government is to offer Hekmatyar legal immunity in “all past political and military proceedings,” as well as release Hezb-i-Islami prisoners.
Hekmatyar is designated a “global terrorist” by the US and is blacklisted by the UN.
The Afghan government is likely to work toward lifting those restrictions in order to reintegrate him into local politics.
The deal is not likely to have an immediate impact on the security situation in Afghanistan.
Hezb-i-Islami has been largely inactive in the past few years, with its last big attack in Afghanistan in 2013. That killed 15 people, including five Americans.
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