HEZB ESLAMI, NOT HEKMATYAR, BEHIND ANTI-KARZAI COUP PLOT?
KABUL 6 Apr. (IPS) Afghan Foreign Minister Abdollah Abdollah denied Saturday earlier information that the former Afghan prime minister Golboddin Hekmatyar has been behind a coup attempt aimed at killing the interim Prime Minister Hamed Karzai and toppling his United Nations installed government.
Talking to reporters in a press conference, Dr. Abdollah however confirmed that at least 160 people had been arrested in connection with the coup attempt, saying that the detained people were members of a group led by Mr. Vahidollah Savabon, the son of Mr. Hekmatyar.
"Under present conditions here in Afghanistan, there is no possibility for a coup d’Etat", the Foreign Minister assured.
But Hezb Islami's Pakistan-based spokesman Qayrat Baheer denied the party had any involvement in the alleged plot and that Sabavon was Hekmatyar's son-in-law.
"These people are not related to Hezb. It is just an excuse. They have their own internal differences", he said in Islamabad.
"Sabavon is not related to Hezb. He is not son-in-law of Engineer Sahib. I am his son-in-law", Baheer added in a respectful reference to Hekmatyar, an engineer and an Islamist fundamentalist who, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, was backed by the CIA.
After the withdrawal of the Red Army, Mr. Hekmatyar became prime minister for a brief but bloody period during which, in order to boot out the popular Ahmad Shah Mas’ood from Kabol, almost destroyed the city.
The legendary warlord Mas’ood was killed two days before the 11 September attacks on the United States by two Arab terrorists hired by Mr. Osama Ben Laden, the Al-Qa’eda leader.
Mr. Yoones Qanooni, the Afghan Interior Minister had announced on Thursday the arrest of 300 people, with most of them belonging to Mr. Hekmatyar’s Hezb Eslami.
"The plotters had planned a campaign of terror, abduction and sabotage", said Qanooni, who negotiated the installation of Mr. Karzai during the UN-sponsored Bonn meeting of Afghan groups.
"There was a series of (assassination) plots against some prominent people including Karzai and the returning King Zahir", the Interior Minister said.
But yesterday, Dr. Adollah assured that the former King, who is expected to preside over the forthcoming session of Loya Jirga, or Afghans traditional Assembly of elders, would return in mid-April, "as planned".
"There were some concerns about his security on the part of the Italian government and the United States", but so far, we expect his return for mid-April, he said.
The plotters also planned a bombing campaign to disrupt Afghanistan's mid-June Loya Jirga, which, among other issues, has to decide whether to endorse Karzai's leadership or install a new government, according to officials.
Mr. Abdollah, in his press conference, denied that Mr. Sabavon had been detained.
During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the United States funnelled hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons through Pakistan to Hekmatyar including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
Sabavon was defence minister in 1995 when Hekmatyar became prime minister at a time of civil war under former president Borhaneddin Rabbani.
When the Taleban took over Afghanistan in 1996, Sabavon joined Rabbani's Northern Alliance as Finance Minister.
The alleged plot was announced on the day Karzai left for Turkey to discuss
Ankara taking over control of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
from Britain.
Several large arms caches as well as documents outlining assassination plans and remote control devices for bombs were also uncovered, officials said.
Asked if the group wanted to bring back the Taleban, Qanooni replied: "They were engaged in acts to undermine, threaten, sabotage and harm the administration.
Qanooni said Hekmatyar was believed to be in hiding in Herat province near the Afghan-Iran border. "He doesn't stay in a single constant place."
Hekmatyar, who fled to Iran after the Taleban took control in 1996, had his offices closed in Tehran last month, after the Americans revealed that the Islamic Republic was sending arms and money to local Afghan commanders to destabilise the Karzai government.
Abdollah also confirmed that the detained men were followers of the Hezb Islami and said despite the crack down on the plotters, threats remained to the interim government.
Amnesty International suggested that "internal political opposition" may have motivated the arrests, and urged that the names and locations of those arrested be released and that they be given access to their families, lawyers and medical help.
Officials also said they suspect that Hekmatyar was connected to both Al-Qa’eda and the Taleban, the fundamentalist who ruled Afghanistan for the past six years, backed by Pakistan.
Meanwhile, American sources said Al-Qa’eda was offering up to 100.000 US Dollars to anyone killing Americans in Afghanistan.
They said "shabnamehs", or "night letters" distributed among Afghan refugees in Pakistan included allegations that Americans used chemical and biological weapons to kill thousands of people in last year's bombing campaign against the Taleban and the Al-Qa’eda network.
Others include stories of personal sacrifice and so-called "miracles" in the battle against the U.S.-led coalition - all apparently designed to inspire young Afghan males to take up the fight and to drive home the message that God is on the Taliban side.
General Tommy Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, said during a briefing Friday that he was aware of the pamphlets.
"I think it confirms what we've been saying, and that is that Afghanistan remains a very, very dangerous place. It's a dangerous place for our people to operate, it's a dangerous place for coalition forces to operate", Franks said. ENDS AFQANESTAN PLOT 6402