Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has been trying without success to form a “joint front” with the Taliban and other parties against the government, his purported spokesman said on Saturday. Hekmatyar’s Hezb-e-Islami had been pushing the plan for more than a year but had had no response from the Taliban and was for the most part fighting separately from them, he said in a telephone interview from an unknown location. The commander was also “absolutely against” talks with the government of President Hamid Karzai as long as US troops remained in Afghanistan, said the man who identified himself as Haroon Zarghoon, Hekmatyar’s spokesman.
The commander had been “misunderstood” in media reports this week that said he split with the Taliban and was open to negotiations with Karzai, he said. “What Hekmatyar Saeb (sir) said was he had called on Taliban to join the Hezb-e-Islami and establish a joint front. So far we have not got any response from the Taliban and we can’t wait for them,” he said. “We have mobilised our own mujahedin - whenever the Taliban is ready they can join us.” “Right now the Taliban are fighting their own war and we our own. In some areas we do have co-ordination, but mainly we fight separately.” Hekmatyar wanted the front to include the Taliban and “other parties,” said Zarghoon, without identifying these groups.