Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to Return to Kabul Soon

Hizb-e- Islami announced that Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hizb-e-Islami, will return to the country within weeks. Amin Karim, chief negotiator of Hizb-e- Islami, told Associated Press that Hekmatyar would return to the capital in “a matter of weeks, not months.” He accused that unnamed Afghan rivals and regional countries of trying to sabotage Hekmatyar’s return. Hizb-e- Islami became the only insurgent leader to sign a peace agreement with the Afghan government, in what many hoped would provide a model for a wider reconciliation with the Taleban. Associated Press reported that Hizb-e- Islami party wants Hekmatyar’s name taken off the UN and US Treasury lists of wanted terrorists. Karim declined to say whether Hekmatyar would return to Afghanistan without first being removed from the lists, and there has been no indication that the UN or Washington is considering his removal. It is reported that Hizb-e- Islami party is not satisfied with the pace of implementation of the pact by the Afghan government. Hashmatullah Arshad, a spokesman for Hizb-e- Islami party, said that the process of the peace accord is snail-paced and most of the important articles such as release of the party’s political prisoners and removal of Hekmatyar’s name from a UN blacklist have not been implemented