Afghanistan: Information on the activities of the Shi'i Hizb-i Wahdat (Islamic Unity Party) since the fall of the Najibullah regime on 16 April 1992
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 February 1996 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | AFG23051.E |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Afghanistan: Information on the activities of the Shi'i Hizb-i Wahdat (Islamic Unity Party) since the fall of the Najibullah regime on 16 April 1992, 1 February 1996, AFG23051.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ad0856.html [accessed 28 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Please consult the attachments from Asian Survey for a chronological description of events in Afghanistan from April 1992 until the end of 1994, and from Current History for events up to the end of 1995. These attachments make references to the role of the Hizb-i Wahdat. The IRNA attachment of 23 August 1995 provides additional general and current information on this party.
Please consult the following attachments for information on specific incidents involving the Hizb-i Wahdat from 1995 to the present: Reuters of 14 February 1995 on Wahdat-held positions in Kabul; Amnesty International (AI) of April 1995 on the Wahdat's early March 1995 voluntary handing over of its Karte Seh positions in Kabul to the Taliban; Xinhua of 19 March 1995 and 28 March 1995 on the 11 March 1995 killing by the Taliban of Wahdat leader Abdul Ali Mazari and his temporary replacement by Muhammad Karim Kalili; Reuters of 20 June 1995 on the capture by government forces of the Wahdat-held city of Bamiyan, which became the Wahdat headquarters after it was driven from Kabul in March 1994 by the Taliban; the Associated Press (AP) of 22 July 1995 on the fighting between government forces and the Wahdat around the town of Yakavlang and in Saripul province to the north; Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran of 17 October 1995 on the capture of Bamian City by Karim Khalili's faction of the Hizb-i Wahdat, and on the fighting for control of north Kabul between Afghan government forces and Akbari's faction of the Hizb-i Wahdat; Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran of 23 October 1995 for an official denial that Khalili's Wahdat faction had captured the areas of Ghroband and Doab in Parwan province; IRNA of 7 December 1995 on the first military training centre of the Hizb-i Wahdat, which was opened in western Kabul on 6 December 1995; Xinhua of 18 December 1995 and Agence France Presse (AFP) of 17 December 1995 for a potential joint attack on Kabul by the Taliban and a three-party alliance consisting of Hekmatyar's Hizb-i Islami, Dostam's Junbush-i Melli and the Hizb-i Wahdat (Khalili group); and Radio Afghanistan of 15 January 1996 on the 10 January 1996 attack by Hizb-i Wahdat on a Taliban checkpoint in Qarabagh, Ghazni province.
For background information on the Hizb-i Wahdat, please consult Responses to Information Requests AFG21576.E of 18 August 1995 and AFG19334.E of 18 January 1995. The following Responses to Information Requests provide additional information on the Shi'i minority, the Hazaras: AFG22701.E of 11 January 1996, AFG19428.E of 10 January 1995 and AFG16456.E of 11 February 1994. These Responses are all available at Regional Documentation Centres.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
Attachments
Agence France Presse (AFP) [Hong Kong, in English]. 17 December 1995. "Dostam Bolsters Troops on Key Frontline." (FBIS-NES-95-243 19 Dec. 1995, pp. 42-43)
Amnesty International (AI). April 1995. Afghanistan: Executions, Amputations, and Possible Deliberate and Arbitrary Killings. (AI Index: ASA 11/05/95). London: Amnesty International, pp. 4-5.
Asian Survey [Berkeley, Calif.]. February 1995. Vol. 35, No. 2. Zalmay Khalilzad. "Afghanistan in 1994: Civil War and Disintegration," pp. 147-52.
_____. February 1994. Vol. 34, No. 2. Barnett R. Rubin. "Afghanistan in 1993: Abandoned but Surviving," pp. 185-90.
_____. February 1993. Vol. 33, No. 2. Shah M. Tarzi. "Afghanistan in 1992: A Hobbesian State of Nature," pp. 165-74.
The Associated Press (AP). 22 July 1995. Tim Johnston. "U.N. Envoy Says Afghan Peace Process Will Be Slow." (NEXIS)
Current History [Philadelphia]. January 1996. Vol. 95, No. 597. Thomas Barfield. "The Afghan Morass," pp. 38-43.
IRNA [Tehran, in English]. 11 December 1995. "Khalili Declares Amnesty in Controlled Areas." (FBIS-NES-95-238 12 Dec. 1995, p. 62)
_____. 7 December 1995. "Unity Party Opens First Military Training Center." (FBIS-NES-95-236 8 Dec. 1995, p. 51)
_____. 23 August 1995. "Iranian Agency Interviews Hezb-e Wahdat Military Chief." (BBC Summary 26 Aug. 1995/NEXIS)
Radio Afghanistan [Kabul, In Pashto]. 15 January 1996. "Government Allies Kill 12 Taleban." (BBC Summary 16 Jan. 1996/NEXIS)
Reuters. 20 June 1995. BC Cycle. "Afghan Government Claims Taking Opposition Town." (NEXIS)
_____. 14 February 1995. BC Cycle. Peter Greste. "Afghan Government Says Students Rout Hekmatyar." (NEXIS)
Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran External Service [Tehran, in Pashto]. 23 October 1995. "Capture of Ghorband by Hezb-e Wahdat Denied." (BBC Summary 24 Oct. 1995/NEXIS)
_____. 17 October 1995. "Bamian City Captured by Opposition Forces." (BBC Summary 19 Oct. 1995/NEXIS)
The Xinhua News Agency. 18 December 1995. "Dostum's Militia Unusually Moves in N. Afghanistan." (NEXIS)
_____. 28 March 1995. "Mazari's Funeral Held in Northern Afghanistan." (NEXIS)
_____. 19 March 1995. "New Hezb-i-Wahdat Chief Appointed in Afghanistan." (NEXIS)
