HEKMATYAR CALLS FOR HOLLY WAR AGAINST AMERICANS

"All true Afghan Muslims know that peace can not prevail in Afghanistan unless the United States and allied soldiers are forced out", Mr. Hekmatyar, a former CIA operative said, in a taped message sent to news agencies in Pakistan.

Mr. Hekmatyar, who is also the leader of the Hezb-e-Islami, made similar anti-American statements late last year, while living in exile in Iran.

After that appeal, he was expelled from Iran under American pressure, Iranian and Afghan sources said.

International peacekeepers say they suspect Mr. Hekmatyar was behind a spate of bombings in the Afghan capital, Kabol. They say he also may have linked up with remaining Taleban and al-Qa’eda fighters.

Afghan officials say that the remnants of the Taleban and al-Qa’eda networks that were driven from power in November may be in the early stages of coalescing with other armed opposition groups, including Hekmatyar’s Hezb-e-Eslami.

Dr. Abdollah Abdollah, Afghanistan Foreign Affairs Minister appealed last week to senior Pakistani officials in Islamabad to halt what the Afghans contend has been a new pattern of support for Hekmatyar from Pakistan's military intelligence organization, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Informed Iranian sources told the Paris-based Iran Press Service that both Hekmatyar and Esma’il Khan, the emir of Heart, who is close to the Iranian regime, have been ordered by Tehran to co-operate with both al-Qa’eda and the former Taleban.

Mr. Hekmatyar denies the charges.

Hekmatyar has been the target of U.S. attacks in the past. In May, U.S. officials said one of their unmanned Predator drone aircraft fired a missile at Hekmatyar north of the Afghan capital. Hekmatyar later said he was not in the area at the time.

In his message, Hekmatyar accused the United States of waging war against Pashtoons, who form the dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan.

Hekmatyar's whereabouts are not clear. He is believed to be in Afghanistan's northeastern Kunar province, amid reports he travels freely between Afghanistan and Iran

He accused General Hilmi Akin Zorlu, the Turkish officer commanding the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, of trying to link his organization, Hezb-e-Islami, with the Taleban and al-Qa’eda in an attempt to see it destroyed.

"The foreign peacekeepers cannot maintain law and peace in this country", he said, adding: "The harsh lessons of recent months have shown that in fact these forces are the cause of disturbance in the country".

Hekmatyar was prime minister in president Borhaneddin Rabbani's fractious government before the Taleban took power in 1996. He almost destroyed Kabol under a hail of rockets and missiles fired on positions held inside the Capital by the late Ahmad Shah Mas'ood, the Afghan legendary Commander who was assassinated on 9 September 2001 by two Arab terrorists.

However, in the event, Hekmatyar refused to join the Taleban and fled to Iran.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan announced on Wednesday a re denomination of its currency, the Afghani, and said the exchange of new notes for old would begin soon.

"People will be proud. They will be able to use the new Afghanis in all corners of Afghanistan. The new money will have value, and in the exchange markets it will be stable and credible", a government source said.

However, on Tuesday, the Afghan currency fell to its lowest level against the dollar in at least 10 months amid reports of the imminent introduction of new denominations.

Dealers said a flow of piles of Afghani notes to Kabol's main money market from the western city of Herat and neighbouring Pakistan in anticipation of the denomination caused the sudden drop in value. HEKMATYAR HOLLY WAR 4902