Abdul Haq (Afghan leader)

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Abdul Haq
Hajji Abdul Qadir
(brother)

Abdul Haq (born Humayoun Arsala; April 23, 1958 – October 26, 2001) was an

September 11th attacks.[2][1]

Early life

Haq was born in Seydan, Afghanistan, a small village in

Hedayat Arsala, was a World Bank director working in Washington, D.C. who later became Vice President of Afghanistan in Hamid Karzai's administration.[4]

Haq also had two older brothers (

Hezb-e Islami Khalis party.[5]

From his own account, Haq was an unruly child, who after persuading his father to register him for school at the early age of five, once hit a teacher who was sleeping on the job.[6] A year after that his 51-year-old father died of kidney disease, prompting Din Mohammad to assume leadership of the family,[7] and prompting the family to move back to their extended family in Nangarhar.

Back in Fatehabad, Haq began attending a

Madrasah under the tutelage of local mullahs, and once reaching the age of eight, began studying at the Lycée. It was here where he started challenging the Communist ideology of some of his teachers.[8]

Mujahideen years

Haq first engaged in the fight against the Afghan government in 1978, initially without external support, then with the

Hizb-i-Islami faction led by Mohammad Yunus Khalis—not to be mistaken with the Hezb-i-Islami faction of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. During the Soviet–Afghan War, Haq coordinated Mujahideen activities in the province of Kabul.[5]

Haq also defended the use of long-range rockets against Kabul despite the fact that those rocket attacks were causing casualties among the civilians.[9] Haq said:

I have to free my country. My advice to people is not to stay close to the government. If you do, it's your fault. We use poor rockets; we cannot control them. They sometimes miss. I don't care about people who live close to the Soviet Embassy, I feel sorry for them, but what can [I] do?[9]

Haq was one of the

anti-Soviet war."[10] Later in the 1980s he became a critic of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and (after his relationship with them ended) the CIA.[11]
The CIA labelled him "Hollywood Haq"—the Hollywood Commander.

Haq was injured several times, including the loss of part of his right heel. Because of his injuries, he often fought battles against the Soviets from horseback.[12]

Post-war period

Haq was the cabinet minister for internal security in the Islamic State of Afghanistan which had been created by the peace and power-sharing agreement known as the Peshawar Accord after the fall of the communist Najibullah regime in April 1992. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who had been offered the position of prime minister, refused to share power with other parties and started a massive bombardment campaign against the capital Kabul. Hekmatyar's attacks led to a prolonged war in Afghanistan. Shortly after this Haq resigned as interior minister, left Afghanistan and settled in Dubai, where it was reported he became a successful merchant.[12]

In 1998, he became a United Nations Peace Mediator.[12]

In January 1999, unknown assailants killed Haq's watchman, entered his home, and murdered his wife and son in Hayatabad in Peshawar, Pakistan. Another of Haq's sons survived the raid.[13]

Northern Alliance

Abdul Haq (pre-October 2001)

From 1999 onwards a process was set into motion by Ahmad Shah Massoud and Haq to unite the various ethnic group in Afghanistan against the Taliban regime. Massoud united the Tajiks, Hazara and Uzbeks as well as several Pashtun commanders. Besides meeting with Pashtun tribal leaders and acting as a point of reference, Haq received increasing numbers of Pashtun Taliban who secretly approached him.[14] Some commanders who had worked for the Taliban military apparatus agreed to the plan to topple the Taliban regime[15] as the Taliban lost support even among the Pashtuns.

Senior diplomat and Afghanistan expert

Zahir Shah, who was residing in Rome, Italy
.

In November 2000, leaders from all ethnic groups were brought together in Massoud's headquarters in northern Afghanistan travelling from other parts of Afghanistan, Europe, the United States, Pakistan and India to discuss a

Loya Jirga for a settlement of Afghanistan's problems and to discuss the establishment of a post-Taliban government.[17][18] In September 2001 an international official who met with representatives of the alliance would remark, "It's crazy that you have this today ... Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazara ... They were all ready to buy in to the process".[19]

Death

Following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, Haq entered

U.S. intervention.[22]

An obituary in The Guardian called Abdul Haq an "astute leader".[12]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "Pakistan Arrests Alleged Killer of Afghan Leader Abdul Haq". Voice of America. October 28, 2009. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  2. ^ "Taliban Claims Its Troops Pursuing American Advisor Who Arrived In Afghanistan With Abdul Haq". Pravda. 2001-10-27. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 27 September 2010. RIA Novosti correspondent reports that the Taliban considers the capturing and execution of prominent Pushto field commander Abdul Haq and his 50 followers as their biggest victory.
  3. ^ Kaplan (1990), pp. 145–146
  4. ^ Kaplan (1990), p. 147
  5. ^ a b c Khan, M. Ismail. "Taliban execute ex-guerilla commander: Last moment rescue operation fails", Dawn, October 27, 2001. Retrieved September 25, 2006.
  6. ^ Kaplan (1990), p. 146
  7. ^ Kaplan (1990), p. 67
  8. ^ Kaplan (1990), p. 148
  9. ^
    ISBN 9781876646226
    .
  10. ^ Coll (2004), pp. 53–54
  11. ^ Coll (2004), pp. 166, 206
  12. ^ a b c d e Abdul Haq: Veteran Afghan leader seeking post-Taliban consensus rule, The Guardian, October 29, 2001
  13. ^ AFGHANISTAN Detention and killing of political personalities Archived September 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Amnesty International, March 1, 1999.
  14. ^ Tomsen (2011), p. 565
  15. ^ "The Afghan Solution". Lucy Morgan Edwards. Archived from the original on 2012-07-15. The central theme of the book is Edward's investigation into a major Afghan-led plan for toppling the Taliban: a plan which existed for two years prior to 9/11, and which had buy-in from senior tribal leaders, commanders within the military axis of the Taliban, possibly the Haqqani network, Commander Massoud and senior Taliban who were willing to bring about a new order. The ex King was to provide the 'glue' around which these different groups would coalesce.
  16. ^ Tomsen (2011), p. 566
  17. ^ "Council of Afghan opposition". Corbis. 2001.
  18. ^ Marcela Grad. Massoud: An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader (1 March 2009 ed.). Webster University Press. p. 65.
  19. ^ "The lost lion of Kabul". The New Statesman. November 2011.
  20. ^ Afghan Warrior: The Life and Death of Abdul Haq, BBC
  21. ^ a b Tenet (2007), p. 218
  22. ^ Slavin, Barbara and Weisman, Jonathan. "Taliban foe's death sparks criticism of U.S. goals", USA Today, October 31, 2001. Retrieved September 23, 2006.

References

External links
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