Airliner hijacking, a Tajik specialty....
Jailed warlord who inspires loyalty
Jason Burke in Islamabad and Richard Norton-Taylor
Tuesday February 8, 2000
The Guardian
Hostages released yesterday said the six young hijackers, armed with [fake?] pistols and knives, are loyal to Ismail Khan, a leader of one of the many Afghan opposition factions who have fought against the Taliban.
One hostage released in Tashkent, who gave his name as Najib, said they were from Afghanistan's Tajik ethnic minority and spoke a dialect of Persian. Ismail Khan is Tajik and speaks Persian.
Khan, 58, has been in jail in Kandahar - the southern desert city which is the headquarters and spiritual home of the Taliban - since being betrayed by another opposition commander in 1997.
He is seriously ill and is held in harsh conditions. The Taliban have refused him medical attention in the past.
Hostage-taking is a traditional tactic in disputes in Afghanistan. "My feeling is that they are some of [Khan's] former troops who saw how successful the Indian [airlines] hijack was and thought they would have a go themselves," one former mujahideen commander, now based in Pakistan, said yesterday.
Khan is a veteran of the resistance war fought by the Afghans between 1979 and 1989. A former Afghan army officer - and conservative Muslim - he joined the mujahideen after Soviet and Afghan forces massacred an estimated 25,000 people in Herat, where he was based, during the first uprising against the then communist government in 1979.
He led a counterattack, recaptured the town and seized the local garrison's armoury.
Sometimes described as the Lion of Herat, he led a series of
successful raids against Russian troops, including an attack
on the Shindand air base in 1985, destroying more than 20
MiG planes.
"He [Khan] is an excellent commander who did very well
against the Russians in the Jihad years," a spokesman for the
Taliban in New York said yesterday.
In the years that followed the departure of the Soviets and
the collapse of their puppet regime, Khan joined a
mujahideen group, the Jamiat-e Islami resistance,
establishing a fiefdom in the west of the Afghanistan.
Ismail Khan's rule was famous for its tolerance and
stability. Most warlords at the time were known merely
for their violence and rapacity. However, Khan was a
popular leader who inspired strong loyalty in the men who
fought for him.
He became a significant political figure in 1987 when he
organised a conference of the disparate mujahideen factions
to agree on the future structure of the country and demand
the unconditional surrender of Russian forces.
After the defeat of the communist regime led by Najiballah
in 1992 and the withdrawal of Soviet forces, Khan
strengthened his position as unopposed warlord in the
Herat region.
He was credited with beginning the post-war rebuilding
process in the area and in 1994 held another "shura" or
conference of mujahideen political and religious leaders to
decide on the government of the country.
However, his political ambitions were thwarted by the
emergence of the Talibans, created and developed by the ISI,
the Pakistan intelligence service.
In September 1995 Khan's troops were unable to hold back
the Taliban onslaught and Khan fled to Iran and thence -
with Iranian backing, according to western diplomats - to
opposition controlled areas in northern Afghanistan. It was
from one of these enclaves that he was captured by the
Taliban when he was betrayed by a fellow opposition
commander.
Mullah Mohammed Omar, the cleric who leads the Taliban
Islamic militia, yesterday blamed Ahmed Shah Massoud,
the most powerful of the many opposition leaders in
Afghanistan, for the hijacking . Massoud's spokesmen
denied any involvement. |
