Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has renewed his criticism of the Taliban administration, calling for the transfer of power to the Afghan people and arguing that citizens themselves should determine the country’s political future.
In a new online speech attended by a number of his supporters, Hekmatyar said Afghanistan’s future should be decided according to the will of its people, who should have the right to choose their representatives and determine the country’s system of government.
He said political parties and groups should not decide the fate of Afghanistan, stressing that the people’s will should serve as the foundation of the country’s future political structure.
Hekmatyar said political change in Afghanistan was “inevitable and imminent,” arguing that governments backed by the Soviet Union and the United States had failed to survive and that the Taliban administration would ultimately meet the same fate.
Hekmatyar says Taliban increasingly isolated
The Hezb-e-Islami leader also claimed that the Taliban administration was facing growing political isolation and had failed to secure lasting and reliable support from regional or international powers.
He said countries that had supported the Taliban in the past were no longer firmly aligned with the group and argued that no country was providing the Taliban government with complete and unconditional support.
Hekmatyar also criticized the Taliban’s foreign policy, saying its efforts to strengthen relations with Russia, Iran and India did not amount to dependable strategic alliances.
He said Russia’s recognition of the Taliban administration had not prevented Moscow from repeatedly voicing concerns over security threats emanating from Afghanistan, extremist groups and the Taliban’s governance.
He added that Iran and India were dealing with Kabul according to their own interests and considerations rather than as members of a strategic alliance committed to supporting the Taliban.
Hekmatyar said the Taliban’s failure to secure broader international legitimacy had left it without a stable position in the regional and global system.
Opposition has no place under Taliban rule, Hekmatyar says
Hekmatyar also accused the Taliban of intolerance toward political opposition, saying even unarmed opponents and critics were not allowed to operate and participate freely under the group’s rule.
“When you say that the opposition has no place in Afghanistan, then you have no place because you do not tolerate others,” he said, addressing the Taliban.
He called for political differences to be resolved through what he described as “principled and Islamic” solutions, dialogue and national understanding.
The Hezb-e-Islami leader also highlighted Afghanistan’s wider social and economic problems, saying proxy wars continued to affect the country while unemployment, insecurity and poverty were placing additional pressure on the population.
He added that the large-scale return of Afghan refugees from neighboring countries had further aggravated the country’s existing crises.
Hekmatyar’s latest remarks follow an even sharper attack on the Taliban regime a day earlier, when he described it as a “government of oppressors, corrupt figures, plunderers, usurpers and foreign mercenaries” and accused its rule of contributing to the destruction of Afghan society.
