Hekmatyar .. reports of his capture premature ... Afghanistan collpase continues

On the 1th September 2006 the Deutsch News Agency reported the capture of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and was reported by Monsters and Critics and and was retailed in great excitement by - Bill Roggios notoriously inaccurate Fourth Rail , etc,

"The commander of the Hizb-i-Islami militia in Hafezan in the eastern province of Nangarhar, Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, was arrested after credible intelligence led Afghan and coalition forces to his compound, the statement said.

No shots were fired and there were no injuries reported." ... which rather gave the game away.

Forbes today (via AP) reports

U.S. and Afghan soldiers detained nine suspected militants belonging to the radical Hezb-e-Islami group of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and al-Qaida, the U.S. military said. Two midlevel Hezb-e-Islami militant commanders were detained in Khost province.

Bill Roggio at his shaky Fourth Nail now headlines

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Reported Captured

But usefully and honestly today adds an update .....

Updated:

The Khaleej Times is reporting a commander of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami, along with “six associates” were captured “at a compound near Hafezan in eastern Nangarhar province.” The initial report of Hekmatyar's capture may be premature, however American intelligence sources (to whom Big BIll R claims close connection !) are tight lipped on the subject at the moment.

Which will make all those fascists at the New Republic somewhat upset.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar , is a man of immense significance in Afghanistan , he was after all the Prime Minister, whatever that might mean , once over. His capture, without a fight is not credible and without being trumpeted by the US/NATO forces - who are not enjoying the best of the fight at present - suggests that Hekmatyar is still out there somewhere.

A useful review of events can be found at the Sacramento Bee by Peter Bergen after a 3 week trip through the country.

The regrouped, rearmed Taliban

"U.S. commanding officer in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry acknowledges that "the strength and coherence of the Taliban movement is greater than it was a year ago," citing tribal and land disputes and trafficking in narcotics as reasons for the resurgence. He also draws a clear link between reconstruction and violence: "Wherever the roads end, that's where the Taliban starts." A State Department official told Bergen that of US$9BN. reconstruction aid promised just US$2.5 Bn. has been spent.

It is no coincidence opines Bergen that opium and heroin production, which now makes up about half of the Afghan economy, spiked at the same time that the Taliban staged a comeback. One U.S. military raid on a Taliban safe house this year recovered $900,000 in cash.

According to a U.S. military official,reports Bergen not one senior Taliban leader has been arrested or killed in Pakistan since 2001 -- nor have any of the top leaders of the militias headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, who are fighting U.S. forces alongside the Taliban.

Bergen concludes ..."In the absence of greater U.S. investments in roads, power and water resources, the Taliban will surely prosper and continue to gain adherents. Unless they take decisive action now, U.S. policymakers may be looking back in a few years, asking themselves why they lost Afghanistan despite the promise the country showed after the fall of the Taliban regime."

Readers are directed to Lord Patel's posting in May 2005 on the rising signficance in the forthcoming warfare in Afghanistan.

"Official" Terrorist lights fires of resistance in Afghanistan

In 2002 the CIA famously spotted Hekmatyar him in the Shegal Gorge, near Kabul,(where he stored his US Stinger missiles) and tried (unsuccessfully) to kill him with (the then novel) a modified anti-tank missile from a Predator unmanned spy plane.

On February 19, 2003 the US DOS designated Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as a Terrorist... which is a variable designation ...Mr Gadaffi has recently been removed from the list.