The calamitous scenes at Kabul’s airport, where thousands of people are scrambling to escape the Taliban before an August 31 deadline, prove the US is not concerned with the fate of ordinary Afghans, Islamist leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar told The National.
With days before the US ends its 20-year presence in Afghanistan and with tens of thousands of Afghans soon to be left stranded, Mr Hekmatyer said the facts speak for themselves.
The US “encouraged Afghans to run to the airport even without proper documents, to show the world that Afghans need them the most and to defame the Taliban”, he alleged. Reports indicate that many have been turned away by US troops because they lack visas or other paperwork.
“The fact is that the Americans do not care about Afghans at all,” Mr Hekmatyar said.
Hours after his interview with The National, an ISIS suicide bomber and at least one gunman unleashed what is believed to be the deadliest bombing in the history of the Afghanistan war, killing about 200 people, including 13 US troops.
Mr Hekmatyar, who delivered a sermon in a Kabul mosque on Friday to mourn the dead, has a long and dark history in Afghanistan and has himself faced plenty of criticism for his role in the suffering of Afghans during the civil war.
His Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin party gained notoriety in 1992 when forces loyal to Mr Hekmatyar launched a hail of rockets on Kabul, laying much of it to waste. The battle killed 50,000 people.
An agreement between warring factions briefly installed Mr Hekmatyar as prime minister in 1996, before his government was overthrown by the newly formed Taliban movement.
Mr Hekmatyar was given refuge in Iran, where after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US, he reportedly collaborated with Al Qaeda and eventually formed a working relationship with the Taliban.
His forces became a deadly thorn in the side of the US-backed Afghan government, first under Hamid Karzai, then Ashraf Ghani.
But after signing a peace agreement with the Ghani administration in 2016 in exchange for amnesty, he became an influential power broker in the conservative wing of Afghan politics.
Since the Taliban’s takeover on August 15, Mr Hekmatyar’s extremist credentials have allowed him to maintain that role, acting as a bridge between the new regime and what is left of the pre-existing political establishment.
Mr Hekmatyar is one third of a self-styled “Co-ordination Council” that wants to help smooth the Taliban’s transition to ruling today’s Afghanistan. The other two members are Mr Karzai and former chief executive Abdullah Abdullah.
Taliban officials have been circumspect about what role – if any – the council is expected to play in their new administration, but Mr Hekmatyar says that it will “create an opportunity for Afghans to sit with one another and make decisions for the future of Afghanistan”.
Taliban leaders are said to take Mr Hekmatyar’s advice more seriously than that of Mr Karzai and Mr Abdullah.
A few days after their conquest of Kabul, photographs taken in the city showed senior Taliban leadership at daily prayers, with Mr Hekmatyar leading the congregation.
The council, Mr Hekmatyar says, was formed before the Taliban’s blitz through a series of provincial capitals this month.
“We wanted the Taliban not to enter Kabul or any of the other capitals, and we wanted to avoid anyone entering these places with weapons,” he said.
“We tried to tell the government, police and army to stay in their posts and allow for a smooth transition.”
Mr Hekmatyar claims the Taliban’s decision to enter Kabul armed was the result of a clandestine plot by the US.
The National has reported on a deal between Mr Ghani and the Taliban in which the president would have resigned in return for a two-week handover period, but Mr Ghani fled Afghanistan before the plan could be enacted.
The exiled president says he left to avoid a bloodbath.
Decades of instability and western intervention in Afghanistan have taken Mr Hekmatyar’s life through many unexpected turns.
The Kabul he returned to after he was granted amnesty in 2016 more closely resembles the one that enraged him during the time of the country’s monarchy in the 1960s (when he was the leader of an Islamist student movement at Kabul University) than the one he briefly governed during the civil war in the 1990s: women’s rights, secular thought, free speech and western culture have a foothold – and a much firmer one than under the monarchy or the communists.
Mr Hekmatyar’s own family is not immune to the changes.
Although he is as much of a fundamentalist as ever, one of Mr Hekmatyar’s grandsons, Obaidullah Baheer, with whom he maintains a close – if complicated – relationship, was educated in Pakistan and Australia, and is now a well-known lecturer in transitional justice at the American University of Afghanistan.
In an op-ed this month for The National, Mr Baheer wrote that “the Taliban leadership should include Afghan female politicians in their meetings” and that “the Taliban movement will have to practise restraint against demonstrators and realise that a regime built on oppressing opposing voices is always going to be short-lived”.
Mr Hekmatyar does not go so far as to advocate women taking on leadership roles, but he does state that Afghan women who are afraid of Taliban rule should “not panic and not worry”.
He insists that it was Afghanistan’s previous government that “deprived women of their rights, as given in the Sharia”.
Talk of women’s rights not being respected in the new Afghanistan is “western propaganda”, he claims, and that previously “women were disrespected and had no identity”.
The day before Mr Hekmatyar spoke to The National, Taliban officials in Kabul announced that women ought to remain at home indefinitely as the group’s fighters have not yet been trained properly on how to respect them.
Another challenge facing Mr Hekmatyar and the rest of the Co-ordination Council is the status of religious minorities, which have been persecuted heavily by the Taliban in past years.
“Islam respects every tribe and nation,” Mr Hekmatyar says, “though everyone should agree that the majority of Afghanistan’s population is Muslim and that must be respected.”
“Previous governments in Afghanistan’s history were not created here, but rather in Moscow, London and Washington. It was always an imposed government. This time, it will be an inclusive one created inside Afghanistan.”
He hopes to see “one law and one government” elected by the majority.
While few in Afghanistan may believe him, given his violent extremist past, Mr Hekmatyar insists: “I am here to ensure that the future government will be inclusive and will give rights and respect to all, including Afghanistan’s minorities. [The Co-ordination Council] will be discussing these points with the Taliban in the future.”
It is unclear to what specific point in the future Mr Hekmatyar refers.
“At this moment, the Taliban is still in a state of ambush,” he says. “We should only talk about the constitution and law once the war is over completely.”
The Taliban have repeated several times in public messages that the war is, indeed, over. But it is clear from the continuing violence, as well as scenes of people attempting to flee the country that many Afghans share Mr Hekmatyar’s view that it is not.
The Old Slave and the Mastiff
Patrick Chamoiseau
Translated from the French and Creole by Linda Coverdale
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
More coverage from the Future Forum
MORE ON CORONAVIRUS & THE ECONOMY
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
The five pillars of Islam
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
If you go...
Flying
There is no simple way to get to Punta Arenas from the UAE, with flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi requiring at least two connections to reach this part of Patagonia. Flights start from about Dh6,250.
Touring
Chile Nativo offers the amended Los Dientes trek with expert guides and porters who are met in Puerto Williams on Isla Navarino. The trip starts and ends in Punta Arenas and lasts for six days in total. Prices start from Dh8,795.
if you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals (more at www.hertz.com/etihad). A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com
MATCH INFO
What: India v Afghanistan, first Test
When: Starts Thursday
Where: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengalaru
THE BIO
Favourite car: Koenigsegg Agera RS or Renault Trezor concept car.
Favourite book: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes or Red Notice by Bill Browder.
Biggest inspiration: My husband Nik. He really got me through a lot with his positivity.
Favourite holiday destination: Being at home in Australia, as I travel all over the world for work. It’s great to just hang out with my husband and family.
Under 19 World Cup
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
The years Ramadan fell in May
Zayed Sustainability Prize
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
More on Quran memorisation:
Read more about the coronavirus
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More on animal trafficking
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 3
Gayle (23'), Perez (59', 63')
Chelsea 0
12%20restaurants%20opening%20at%20the%20hotel%20this%20month
%3Cp%3EAriana%E2%80%99s%20Persian%20Kitchen%3Cbr%3EDinner%20by%20Heston%20Blumenthal%3Cbr%3EEstiatorio%20Milos%3Cbr%3EHouse%20of%20Desserts%3Cbr%3EJaleo%20by%20Jose%20Andres%3Cbr%3ELa%20Mar%3Cbr%3ELing%20Ling%3Cbr%3ELittle%20Venice%20Cake%20Company%3Cbr%3EMalibu%2090265%3Cbr%3ENobu%20by%20the%20Beach%3Cbr%3EResonance%20by%20Heston%20Blumenthal%3Cbr%3EThe%20Royal%20Tearoom%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
A cheaper choice
Vanuatu: $130,000
Why on earth pick Vanuatu? Easy. The South Pacific country has no income tax, wealth tax, capital gains or inheritance tax. And in 2015, when it was hit by Cyclone Pam, it signed an agreement with the EU that gave it some serious passport power.
Cost: A minimum investment of $130,000 for a family of up to four, plus $25,000 in fees.
Criteria: Applicants must have a minimum net worth of $250,000. The process take six to eight weeks, after which the investor must travel to Vanuatu or Hong Kong to take the oath of allegiance. Citizenship and passport are normally provided on the same day.
Benefits: No tax, no restrictions on dual citizenship, no requirement to visit or reside to retain a passport. Visa-free access to 129 countries.
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Political flags or banners
-
Bikes, skateboards or scooters
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
BIRD%20BOX%20BARCELONA
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20David%20and%20Alex%20Pastor%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGeorgina%20Campbell%2C%20Mario%20Casas%2C%20Diego%20Calva%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The years Ramadan fell in May
Tips from the expert
Dobromir Radichkov, chief data officer at dubizzle and Bayut, offers a few tips for UAE residents looking to earn some cash from pre-loved items.
- Sellers should focus on providing high-quality used goods at attractive prices to buyers.
- It’s important to use clear and appealing photos, with catchy titles and detailed descriptions to capture the attention of prospective buyers.
- Try to advertise a realistic price to attract buyers looking for good deals, especially in the current environment where consumers are significantly more price-sensitive.
- Be creative and look around your home for valuable items that you no longer need but might be useful to others.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Bio
Born in Dubai in 1994
Her father is a retired Emirati police officer and her mother is originally from Kuwait
She Graduated from the American University of Sharjah in 2015 and is currently working on her Masters in Communication from the University of Sharjah.
Her favourite film is Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo del Toro
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The five pillars of Islam
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
The five pillars of Islam
