Mohammad Younas was among the thousands of Afghan fighters that Hezb-e Islami, a major Afghan Islamist party, sent to Azerbaijan in the 1990s to bolster Baku in its war against Armenia.
Khatir Pardes
Abubakar Siddique
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
KABUL — Mohammad Younas is nostalgic about his time fighting with Azerbaijani forces in the war against Armenians for the Nagorno-Karabakh territory in the early 1990s.
“If possible, I would again join the Muslims of Azerbaijan to defend them against non-Muslims,” he said, alluding to the predominantly Muslim country in its battle with Armenian forces, who are mainly Orthodox Christians. The conflict between the South Caucasian neighbors has never been considered a religious one.
But Younas’s real motivation was a mix of religious zeal and material gain. “My real motivation in going to Azerbaijan was participating in a jihad, but I also wanted to make some money,” he told RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan.
Younas was among the thousands of Afghan fighters that Hezb-e Islami, a major Afghan Islamist party, sent to Azerbaijan in the 1990s to bolster Baku in its war against Armenia. The conflict between the two Soviet republics mushroomed into a full-scale war after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, which preceded the demise of Afghanistan’s communist regime in April 1992.
While far from being materially involved in the current war over Nagorno-Karabakh, Kabul still supports Baku’s position, which sees Yerevan as occupying its territory — a position also recognized internationally.
Afghanistan’s declared support for Azerbaijan has prompted Armenia to push for an end to Kabul’s observer status in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led regional alliance.
Sending Afghan Mujahedin
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an anti-Soviet guerrilla and Hezb-e Islami leader, celebrated the fall of his former enemies in Afghanistan in 1992.
But soon after he plunged his country into a civil war as he joined fighting against other Afghan Islamist and ex-communist factions. He eventually became the prime minister in a deeply divided regime in 1993 but failed to establish control over the capital.
Yet Hekmatyar still celebrates sending people like Younas and thousands more of his supporters to fight for Azerbaijan after it requested help. In a speech to his supporters last week, he said that in response to an Azerbaijani request he told Afghan refugees in Iran to join the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“A sizeable number of our mujahedin went there and scored numerous victories,” he told supporters at a Kabul mosque. “They pushed back the Armenians within the initial days and captured many territories. Their advances continued until the Azerbaijani officials approached us ahead of impending talks that resulted in a cease-fire,” he said, referring to an armistice in May 1994 that ended nearly six years of fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Well-Paid To Fight
In Kabul, Younas has vivid memories of the fighting.
He crossed into neighboring Iran from Pakistan after Hezb-e Islami leaders ordered him to go to Azerbaijan. He said he joined a group of 300 Afghans on a special flight from the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan to Baku in early 1994 from where they were soon deployed to the front lines.
“During one battle an Armenian tank column attacked us; our comrades attempted to target them with rockets,” he said of a battle in the last days of winter in 1994. “One rocket hit our comrade Bashir, who was killed instantly, but we continued fighting.”
Younas said that at the end of the battle they captured eight Armenian fighters. “We later exchanged them to free our comrades,” he said. Upon his return to Afghanistan in June, Younas was paid more than $1,500 for his participation in the fighting by his party, which confirms speculation that Afghan fighters were recruited as mercenaries by Azerbaijan.
Humayun Jarir, Hekmatyar’s son-in-law and a senior Hezb-e Islami leader, says nearly 70 Afghans among the estimated 5,000 fighters their party sent to Azerbaijan were killed in the fighting. He says Hezb-e Islami fighters ultimately contributed to forcing the Armenians to accept a cease-fire.
Beginning in late 1993, Armenian authorities protested the recruitment of Afghans by Azerbaijan. They had warned that the role of Muslim Afghan forces in Nagorno-Karabakh could turn the territorial conflict into a religious war between Muslim Azerbaijanis and the Christian Armenians.
Contrarian Kabul
Yerevan is upset by Kabul’s current diplomatic support for Baku in the latest round of hostilities, which have killed hundreds and led to charges by Armenian officials of Baku receiving material support from Turkey, who Yerevan says has also recruited Syrians to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Late last month, the Afghan government called for an end to the fighting between the two countries but reiterated its support for Azerbaijan.
“Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan,” said a statement by the Afghan Foreign Ministry. “Afghanistan wants the end of the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and supports the efforts of Azerbaijan’s people and other nations.”
This prompted the Armenian parliament to call on the CSTO to move toward stripping Afghanistan of its observer status.
“In response to the statements supporting Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression by Afghanistan, the Republic of Armenia’s National Assembly has officially appealed to the CSTO parliamentary assembly secretary to start the process of depriving Afghanistan of its observer status,” Armenian parliament speaker Arat Miroyan said in a statement on October 2.
While suffering from a seemingly unending war for more than 40 years, Kabul has surprised many by adopting bold and controversial positions in faraway wars and territorial disputes.
In March 2104, Afghanistan joined Syria and Venezuela in backing Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. The United States and its European allies, major donors to Afghanistan, had opposed the move and termed it a “land grab” by Moscow. More than 100 countries voted against Russia’s takeover of Crimea in a UN General Assembly resolution.
Written by Abubakar Siddique based on reporting in Kabul by Khatir Pardes
It
was and is
totally absurd and unethical
to
get young people
of
Afghanistan
involved
in
foreign any wars.
*
It was
a
land dispute between
the
two
ex-communist Soviet republic
that
had nothing
to
do with the people
of
Afghanistan- it was not a Jihad; for very simple reason that
it
was not authorized by any
proven Islamic religious authority
on
Islamic affairs.
===
==
=
Some one was playing
deadly tricks
on
seasoned fighters and pilots
of
Afghanistan- they wanted
to
get them
killed.
*
Greedy
International war criminals
are, almost always,
involved
in
igniting dirty wars with
anterior motives.
.
I am pretty sure that
it
was the case;
with the ignitions
of
the
Azari/Armani initial
deadly conflicts; that
ran
it all, out
of
control !
=========
.=======
=====
IT IS S SHAME !
*
Instead
of
recounting
positive past ties; those goofy
foreign-paid writers,
((on commands)), op and rely on
tales
of
hostile
confrontational dialogues
and
anecdotes— pitting one
against another; has been always
the
hallmark
of
colonial
EXPLOITATIVE APPROACH ‘
===
==
=
I guess it still spills magical
wonders
beyond
expectations !
*
*Yes; they
lure and engage
you
in
extremely deadly confined conflicts
and
then
blame you
for
it
all, as well.
========
========
*IT IS
THEIR ((#1))
HALLMARK !!!!!
*
*All for the benefits
of
the
big aggressive powers.
*
LET US
BRING, AT LEAST,
SOME
*CIVILITY; *RESPECT
AND
PEACE OF MIND
TO
THIS
HIGHLY-EXPLOITED WORLD !
.
WAR GAMES
PREOCCUPIES
THE
HEADS- OF COURSE;
THEY ARE FED
BY
IT !
*
ALL
THE SECRET
FOREIGN
===========
“THUGS AND THUG-MARS”
======================
GOT
THOSE AFGHANS INVOLVED
IN
THAT
STUPID CONFLICT- ALL; WITH THE
BLESSINGS
OF
THE ANGLO/US
AND
OTHER WESTERN
INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES
**
===================
====================
THE COWARDS
CREATE IMPOSED
WAR-BONANZAS AND THEN
SENT
YOUNG FOLKS
OF
AFGHANISTAN
TO
GET SHOT DOWN, ((one by one))
FROM
THE
INSIDE
OF
THE
MEDIOCRE SOVIET-MADE AIRCRAFTS.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
YES; IT IS ALL WELL-CALCULATED !
======================
.*
*STOP
GLOBAL
SAVAGERIES !!!!!
*
We all
must
know whether; for
what kinds of specific missions
they were being
dispatched
and
used ?????
*
We also
want
to
know whether
who
were conceiving the original ideas; and who were
actually behind the schemes
of
recruiting; supplies and their dispatching !
*
Ironically; the inept
communist
governing body
of
Azerbaijan was doing nothing
to
defend their own; so called,
“holy motherland”- real funny; two
goofy
communist leaders
of
two
ex-republics engage their
troops
in
savage pitch battles and then before you know, young, naive and vulnerable?
Afghans
are sent
to
wage
a; so called Jihad, on
behalf
of
the
communist leaders
of
Azerbaijan.
****
**
*
Totally; ridiculous- makes no
sense, at all !
!!!!’
*
The people
of
Afghanistan got to find out about
the
original nationalities
of
those
coward
schemers !
*
Now; don’t blame
it
all on
regular innocent folks
of
Afghanistan- just; like
you did
for
the
highly-complex events
of
the;
so called, “September 11”.
*
Now; I recently heard that
they are
working to cook up
similar scenarios
for
the
Syrian fighters who are against
the
government of Bashir Assad.
Recused fighters
are paid,
by
unknown scouts from the
Turkish-controlled
refuge camps,
to
fight
on
behalf
of
the
same
Azerbaijan’s
ex-communist leadership.
*
You are censuring
my,
one of the kind,
comments !
*
Hey; you guys !!!!!!
==========
IT IS
A
PUBLIC FORUM- you have no
right
to
censure
my good comments !
*
Another goofy
Indian
writer, Khatir Pardes,
is used
to
distort facts !
*
THE
INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMINALS
WILL ALWAYS
FIND
EXCUSES
TO
COMPENSATE
FOR
THEIR EXTREME SAVAGERIES
INSIDE
THE
KILLING FIELDS
OF
AFGHANISTAN.
*
*Cheap
Indian writers are
always
ready
to
help you write distorted
articles
for
the money- the
crazy Englishman taught
them how
to
read and write
in
English !
*
Contrary
to
this
goofy and dishonest
writer’s claims;
the
Armenians managed
to
annex and declare the autonomy
of
the Nagorno-Karabakh- basically;
they
defeated
the
Azerbaijans
and
all of its
foreign supporting forces.
*
This
goofy article
was written
for
false publicity !
.*
Now; it is all,
up-to
your
fine judgement !
*
Afghans were, obviously,
being
sent
to
join the
losing battles
and, in fact, the whole war !
*
You cowards have have had
been committing
similar crimes
all across
Islamic
countries and who ever happened
to
become vulnerable
to
your
savage dirty schemes and bloody tricks.
*
And;
you cowards make it look
like
somebody else’s
mercenary job while, in fact, you
are the
real
despicable culprit soul !
*
The funny part is that there is
nobody,
((even the UN reps))
to
question, clarify and indict those
sneaky hardcore
and well-known perpetrators- because those, very same cowards, control
those responsible inept organs as well !
*
The
coward
International War Criminals
and
their
rich accomplices
have devised numerous varieties
of
subtle
tactical and unconventional ways
to
lure and implicate their
opponents
and/or
any
of
their
real and/or imaginary
critics and rivals
across
the
world- it must be stoped !!!!!
*