Afghan Rebel Leader Hekmatyar's Eid Message Urges Continued Jihad

Peshawar Afghan Islamic Press in Pashto at 1340 GMT on 8 January reported that Afghan insurgent leader Golboddin Hekmatyar had urged all Afghans to continue to wage jihad until all "occupation forces" are "driven out" of the country.

In a message released in Pakistan on 8 January, in advance of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha later this week, the fugitive rebel commander said the "real Eid" would be celebrated when Afghanistan was "free of foreign agents" and would not need to seek foreign assistance or to "bow to others."

In order to achieve this, Hekmatyar said, it was incumbent on "every Afghan and every Muslim" to engage in jihad.

"With the mercy of God, Afghans waged jihad against former Soviet Russia for the same sacred purpose. Once again, they have waged jihad against the current US and British-led crusade. God willing, this jihad will continue until all occupation forces are driven out of every corner of the country and an Islamic system is established in Afghanistan in accordance with the people's wishes. God willing, that Eid will also come, and it will come very soon."

In his message, the leader of the Hezb-e Eslami Hekmatyar faction, also denounced last year's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, saying they had been rigged by the US. He said the aim of the polls had been to hide "colonialist occupation" under "the disguise of democracy." This was designed to establish "an obedient and weak parliament" which would sign "treaties of subjugation."

Text of message

Peshawar, 8 January: The press in Peshawar today received a letter from former mojahedin leader Golboddin Hekmatyar. The title of the letter is "Message on Eid al-Adha." The message is published below without alteration.

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. The Eid al-Adha message:

Brothers and sisters, Afghans, people of faith and mojahedin of Islam! Peace and the blessings of God Almighty be upon you.

I congratulate you on the arrival of Eid al-Adha. Pray to Almighty God to end these tough times of our helpless nation and the Muslim ummah (community) and to bless them with victory in this crusade. May God bless them with freedom and independence, with a system they desire in the light of Islam, and with pious leaders who fear God! Our real Eid will be the day when our country is free of foreign agents, when we would not need to extend our hands to others for help, nor will we have to bow to others.

Jihad

It is incumbent on every Afghan and every Muslim to engage in jihad to achieve this goal. With the mercy of God, Afghans waged jihad against the former Soviet Union for the same sacred purpose. Once again, they have waged jihad against the current US and British-led crusade. God willing, this jihad will continue until all occupation forces are driven out of every corner of the country and an Islamic system is established in Afghanistan in accordance with the people's wishes. God willing, that Eid will also come, and it will come very soon.

Brothers and sisters! Anything that is done under the authority and command of foreigners in our country is against the nation of Afghanistan and Islam and is in the sole interest of the occupiers and colonialists. They train the army and police so as to deploy them against Afghans in order to reduce their own casualties. The army and police are fully under their command. All of its divisions and regiments are under their control.

There is an American adviser with every single so-called Afghan commander, and their military units are commanded by these Americans. You can see that those same people who fought alongside Russians against the nation are being recruited into the police and army today. They are the people who are responsible for past wars, destruction and bloodshed.

War criminals of the past, communists, traitors to the country, corrupt people and criminals have been imposed on Afghans in various fields.

Elections

They hold elections to show that their agents are public representatives, and to hide their colonialist occupation under the disguise of democracy, and to establish an obedient and weak parliament. They want parliament to sign treaties of subjugation, to legalize their authority and to describe the system imposed with the power of their money and their forces as the nation's desired system.

You witnessed the recent parliamentary elections. Do you see how the parliament established through American democracy works and who these members of parliament represent? The Americans established procedures for elections, they counted votes, stuffed and emptied ballot boxes at will, they considered ballot boxes credible if they wished so and termed them illegal if they wished. The ballot boxes they deemed to be in their interest were counted while the ones that belonged to opponents were quarantined and stopped from being counted.

They did not allow those who were against the US to stand for election, nor did they allow voting to the emigrants and people of the areas who would vote for people who opposed America.

If there are people in the parliament who have obtained a few thousand votes, there are also people who have come with a few hundred votes. In American democracy and by American standards they both enjoy the same status. The overall votes these successful candidates have obtained are less than a million. On what grounds do they give themselves the right to represent 30 million Afghans? Four million people were deprived of voting just because they belonged to mojahedin families and would vote for mojahedin. The votes of these emigrants are greater than the votes obtained by 80 percent of the members of this parliament.

Why is it that one million Iraqis living abroad, most of them in Western countries, are allowed to vote in Iraqi elections, but four millions Afghan emigrants are deprived of it during elections? Was it because elections like those in Iraq were not possible in Afghanistan or did Americans not want emigrants to vote during elections to vote for those who did not want Americans?

In all Western societies, men and women have equal rights to vote and stand as candidates. There is not a single example in any part of the world where women are given separate shares. Yet a quarter of the Afghan parliament is designated for women. It is American B52 democracy that has imposed this issue on Afghans merely to show that they have taken women from the depth of deprivation to the height of privilege. The purpose of this move was to increase the numbers of their favourite candidates in parliament.

Foreign aid

What they report to us under the name of assistance is in fact their military expenditure or the amount they pay to their military personnel and advisers. This is the money they pay to those NGOs and institutions which work to convert Afghans to Christianity and spread moral corruption. Their religion is singing, drinking, gambling and nudity. What little they may have done for Afghans is because of the ongoing resistance against them. They want to get the support of Afghans against the mojahedin. Had there been no resistance, they would not have even done these small things for Afghans.

Do you not see that all they do is propaganda? They have not done anything essential for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. They have not assisted any factory, nor have they done anything for the construction of a dam or the fertilization of barren lands.

They talk about the interference of neighbouring countries while the fact is that those countries fanned the flames of war at their instructions and with their assistance. They make such propaganda to justify their permanent presence in Afghanistan.

Pakistan and Iran

They want to achieve particular objectives with their false propaganda about the mojahedin's cross-border activities from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. They know quite well that such propaganda is untrue. The Americans are well aware of everything happening in Pakistan. The CIA gets to know about developments in the Pakistani president's office faster than they get news about events in Afghanistan's presidential palace. The CIA and FBI are as active in Pakistan as they are in Afghanistan. Their offices in Pakistan are as active as they are in Afghanistan. There too they can arrest and send people to their prisons at their convenience. There too they rocket the houses of opponents with their spy aircraft, but the next day Pakistani officials announce that there was an explosion in a house used for making bombs in which a terrorist was killed.

Americans have done the same thing in Afghanistan by detonating arms caches with laser beams in Bagram, Spin Boldak, Khenjan, Baghlan and several other places, killing many innocent Afghans. But, the next day they announce that an arms cache exploded.

The purpose of deploying the army on the border is not to prevent mojahedin from crossing the border. They know and everyone else knows that the mojahedin are inside the country and operate in the country's centre, north, south, east and west.

The objective behind these border deployments is that Americans have asked Pakistanis to give up Kashmir and in return America will make the Durand Line (line of the Afghan-Pakistan border) permanent and will help them in bringing tribal areas under Pakistani control, the areas which the British could not bring under their control.

Officials in Islamabad have accepted this deal. The deployment of forces, entrenching military check posts, operations in North and South Waziristan, forcing emigrants to leave that area and bulldozing their houses is part of the deal.

They have come to Afghanistan to fight, they have ill intentions and objectives, they have come to stay in the region forever, to control gas and oil resources and to encircle China and Iran. Although the liberals of Iran assisted them in conquering Afghanistan and Iraq, this did not satisfy them. They want Iran to be their base as it was during the shah's regime. They insist on Afghanistan's occupation and send NATO troops. They intend to stay forever if there is no resistance. With God's mercy, the resistance will destroy their hopes of permanent occupation.

Peace commission

While they bomb Afghans and kill innocent people, they speak falsely of reconciliation to deceive people, and they establish commissions for this purpose. This is neither aimed at establishing security and ending war, nor is it aimed at real peace. They want the mojahedin to hand in their weapons and surrender. From their perspective, peace is a permanent acceptance by Afghans of slavery and subjugation and giving up efforts for independence and freedom.

They know that peace will not come with their occupation of Afghanistan or Iraq or any other country of the world. Peace will come only when all foreign forces leave Afghanistan. The peace commission that the Americans and British have established is given the task of convincing mojahedin to bow before the enemy.

Americans do not report their casualties, except in some cases. They blame every action on Taliban and Al-Qa'ida for particular purposes. They have admitted 2,100 casualties in Iraq, but the actual figures are far higher. They describe all operations as suicide attacks, but the reality is different. Except some cases, most operations are face-to-face fighting or remote controlled explosion.

Brothers and sisters! Some countries, including some of our neighbours, are very ungrateful. Afghans saved them from being washed away by the floods of communism, but they have decided to destroy Afghanistan instead of sympathizing with it. Afghans freed East European countries from the claws of communism. Yet in return they assist in the American occupation of Afghanistan. They have not yet got rid of the implications of the past slavery completely. They got rid of the slavery of one master, but accepted the slavery of another. The Berlin Wall was demolished as a result of our sacrifices, but Germany now establishes bases in Afghanistan on American instructions. If they are brave, they should drive out the 60,000 American forces from their country, and establish this base in Berlin instead of Afghanistan.

With hopes for the independence of Afghanistan!

May the flag of Islam forever remain aloft!

May the mojahedin be triumphant!

(Signed) Hekmatyar, Afghanistan, 1384 (year ending March 2006)

(Description of Source: Peshawar Afghan Islamic Press in Pashto -- Peshawar-based agency, staffed by Afghans. The agency used to have good contacts with Taliban leadership; however, since the fall of the Taliban regime, it now describes itself as "independent "and "self-financing.")