Night letters: gulbuddin hekmatyar and tgulbuddin hekmatyar and the afghan islamists who changed the world he afghan islamists who changed the world

In 1969, several young men met on a rainy night in Kabul to form an Islamist student group. Their aim was laid out in a simple typewritten statement: to halt the spread of Soviet and American influence in Afghanistan. They went on to change the world. Night Letters tells the extraordinary story of the group's most notorious member, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and the guerrilla organzation he came to lead, Hizb-e Islami. By the late 1980s, tens of thousands were drawn to Hekmatyar's vision of a radical Islamic state that would sow unrest from Kashmir to Jerusalem. His doctrine of violent global jihad culminated in 9/11 and the birth of ISIS, yet he never achieved his dream of ruling Afghanistan. The peace deal he signed with Kabul in 2016 was yet another controversial twist in an astonishing life. Sands and Qazizai delve into the secret history of Hekmatyar and Hizb-e Islami: their wars against Russian and American troops, and their bloody and bitter feuds with domestic enemies. Based on hundreds of exclusive interviews carried out across the region and beyond, this is the definitive account of the most important, yet poorly understood, international Islamist movement of the last fifty years. In 1969, several young men met on a rainy night in Kabul to form an Islamist student group. Their aim was laid out in a simple typewritten statement: to halt the spread of Soviet and American influence in Afghanistan. They went on to change the world. 'Night Letters' tells the extraordinary story of the group's most notorious member, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and the guerrilla organisation he came to lead, Hizb-e Islami. By the late 1980s, tens of thousands were drawn to Hekmatyar's vision of a radical Islamic state that would sow unrest from Kashmir to Jerusalem. His doctrine of violent global jihad culminated in 9/11 and the birth of ISIS, yet he never achieved his dream of ruling Afghanistan. The peace deal he signed with Kabul in 2016 was yet another controversial twist in an astonishing life. Sands and Qazizai delve into the secret history of Hekmatyar and Hizb-e Islami: their wars against Russian and American troops, and their bloody and bitter feuds with domestic enemies. Based on hundreds of exclusive interviews carried out across the region and beyond, this is the definitive account of the most important, yet poorly understood, international Islamist movement of the last fifty years Authors’ Note 9 Contents 11 List Of Illustrations 15 Principal Characters 17 Prologue 21 Part One MONARCHY AND REPUBLIC 1965–1978 31 1. Earthquakes 33 2. A New World 53 3. ‘The Ancient Enemy’ 67 4. The Insurrection 91 5. Spies 111 Part Two JIHAD 1978–1991 133 6. The Revolution 135 7. Devils 147 8. Professions of Faith 163 9. Culture Wars 181 10. ‘The West is Afraid’ 195 11. Black Tulips 213 12. The Mother Party 235 13. Baghdad 259 14. Exit Wounds 277 15. ‘The Century of Islam’ 291 Part Three CIVIL WAR 1991–1996 307 16. The Fall 309 17. The Islamic State 325 18. ‘Victory or Martyrdom’ 341 19. Collusion 361 20. The Great Game 383 Part Four THE TALIBAN 1996–2001 397 21. The Next War 399 Part Five THE AMERICANS 2001–2017 419 22. The Guests 421 23. The Reckoning 437 Notes 455 Acknowledgements 495 Further Reading 497 Index 499 NIGHT,LETTERS