Hekmatyar Breaks With Taliban

This dude has switched sides so many times it is hard to keep track.

The warlord has been Prime Minister of Afghanistan (twice), then a Taliban enemy, later a Taliban ally.

He cooperated in the covert CIA war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Much later he was the (unsuccessful) target of a CIA Predator drone attack after 9/11. IIRC, there is still a price on his head (payable in U.S. dollars).

Now he is shifting alliances again.

Fugitive Afghan rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar told The Associated Press his forces have ended cooperation with the Taliban and suggested that he was open to talks with embattled President Hamid Karzai.

In a video response to questions submitted by AP, Hekmatyar also recounted how U.S. forces nearly caught him on two occasions but he got away.

Hekmatyar, speaking in front of a plain white wall at an undisclosed location, indicated that his group contacted Taliban leaders some time in 2003 and agreed to wage a joint jihad, or holy war, against American troops.

"The jihad went into high gear but later it gradually went down as certain elements among the Taliban rejected the idea of a joint struggle against the aggressor," Hekmatyar said. He said his forces were now mounting only restricted operations, partly because of a lack of resources.

It is unlikely in the extreme, however, that he will mend fences with the U.S.

(Unless we make it worth his while.)