Editing Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (section)

==Warfare with other Afghan groups==
{{quote box
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| quote = Hezb-i Islami men are like cancer, that is why one has to treat the cancer first.<br />– [[Ahmad Shah Massoud]] following a truce with the Soviet Army, {{Circa|1983}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://prr.hec.gov.pk/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1322/1/799S.pdf|title=The Causes of the Failure of Government of Afghanistan Under Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani  |accessdate=2021-08-24}}</ref>
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Hezb-e-Islami distinguished itself among the mujahideen by its practice of ''[[takfir]]'', or pronouncing apostasy against other Muslims.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Roy|first=Olivier|title=The origins of the Islamist movement in Afghanistan|journal=Central Asian Survey|year=1984|volume=3|number=2|page=117|doi=10.1080/02634938408400467}}</ref> On that basis it regularly attacked other mujahideen factions as well as the Soviet occupation.<ref>Tanner, Stephen. ''Afghanistan: A Military History''</ref> Hekmatyar's conflict with [[Jamiat-e Islami]] and its commander [[Ahmad Shah Massoud]] was particularly contentious. Massoud was arrested in Pakistan for espionage in 1976 with Hekmatyar's cooperation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hussain|first=Rizwan|year=2005|title=Pakistan and the Emergence of Islamic Militancy in Afghanistan|location=Farnham|isbn=978-0754644347|publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing|Ashgate]] |page=167}}</ref> Later Massoud and Hekmatyar agreed to stage a takeover operation in the [[Panjshir valley]]. Hekmatyar at the last minute refused to engage his part of the offensive, leaving Massoud open and vulnerable. Massoud's forces barely escaped with their lives.<ref>Edward Girardet, ''Killing the Cranes'', pub by Chelsea Green</ref> In July 1989 Hezb-e-Islami commander Sayyed Jamal ambushed and killed 30 commanders of Massoud's ''Shura-ye-Nazar'' at [[Farkhar]] in [[Takhar province]]. The attack was typical of Hekmatyar's strategy of trying to cripple rival factions, and incurred widespread condemnation among the mujahideen.<ref>{{cite book|last=Maley|first= William |title=The Afghanistan Wars|url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistanwars00male|url-access=limited|year=2002|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|isbn=978-0-333-80291-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/afghanistanwars00male/page/n186 176]}}</ref>

Hekmatyar's faction also attacked non-combatants such as British [[cameraman]] Andy Skrzypkowiak, who was killed in 1987 while carrying footage of Massoud's successes to the West. Despite protests from British representatives, Hekmatyar did not punish the culprits, and instead rewarded them with gifts.<ref name=SikorskiNR>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n16_v45/ai_13294519/pg_2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050405075816/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n16_v45/ai_13294519/pg_2|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 April 2005|title=Afghanistan revisited - civil war between mujaheddin factions|access-date=2008-07-04|last=Sikorski|first=Radek|author-link=Radosław Sikorski|date=23 August 1993|magazine=[[National Review]]}}</ref> The same year [[Médecins Sans Frontières]] reported that Hekmatyar's guerrillas hijacked a 96-horse caravan bringing aid into northern Afghanistan, stealing a year's supply of medicine and cash that was to be distributed to villagers. This would have allowed the villagers to buy food. French relief officials also asserted that [[Thierry Niquet]], an aid coordinator bringing cash to Afghan villagers, was killed by one of Hekmatyar's commanders in 1986. It is thought that two American journalists traveling with Hekmatyar in 1987, [[Lee Shapiro]] and [[Jim Lindelof]], were killed not by the Soviets, as Hekmatyar's men claimed, but during a firefight initiated by Hekmatyar's forces against another mujahideen group.<ref>[http://www.csmonitor.com/1987/1028/oed.html Two US journalists reported killed in Afghanistan; details murky] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807054104/http://www.csmonitor.com/1987/1028/oed.html |date=August 7, 2016 }}, ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]'', 28 October 1987</ref>

Hekmatyar made an unlikely alliance with hardline communist and Minister of Defence [[Shahnawaz Tanai]] who launched a [[1990 Afghan coup attempt|failed coup attempt in March 1990]] against President [[Mohammad Najibullah|Najibullah]]. Many senior members of his party resigned in protest of the coalition, and other Mujahideen groups ridiculed Hekmatyar for uniting with Khalqists to oust the Parcham government.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft7b69p12h;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print |title=Afghanistan |publisher=Publishing.cdlib.org |date= |accessdate=2021-08-24}}</ref> In addition, there were frequent reports throughout the war of Hekmatyar's commanders negotiating and dealing with pro-Communist local militias in northern Afghanistan.<ref>Kaplan, Robert, ''Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan'', New York: Vintage Departures, 2001, p. 170</ref>

Overall, Hekmatyar has been accused of spending "more time fighting other Mujahideen than killing Soviets."<ref>Bergen, Peter L., ''Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden'', News: Free Press, 2001, pp. 69–70</ref> Through the anti-Soviet war and beyond, he remained a controversial yet persistently influential figure<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/notorious-afghan-warlord-rocketyar-ready-return-politics|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109043956/https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/notorious-afghan-warlord-rocketyar-ready-return-politics|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 November 2019|title=Notorious Afghan Warlord 'Rocketyar' Ready to Return to Politics|website=Voice of America|access-date=Aug 24, 2021}}</ref> whom ''[[The New York Times]]'' described as "perhaps the most brutal of a generally brutal group".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/19/world/nation-challenged-warlords-corrupt-brutal-reclaim-afghan-thrones-evoking-chaos.html|title=A Nation Challenged: The Warlords; The Corrupt and Brutal Reclaim Afghan Thrones, Evoking Chaos of Somalia|first=Jane|last=Perlez|date=Nov 19, 2001|accessdate=Aug 24, 2021|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>