Hezb-e-Islami (also ''Hezb-e Islami'', ''Hezb-i-Islami'', ''Hezbi-Islami'', ''Hezbi Islami''), lit. Islamic Party, was an Islamist organization that was commonly known for fighting the Communist Government of Afghanistan and their close ally the Soviet Union. Founded and led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, it was established in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in 1975. It grew out of the Muslim Youth organization, an Islamist organization founded in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

by students and teachers at

Kabul University Kabul University (KU; prs, دانشگاه کابل, translit= Dāneshgāh-e-Kābul; ps, د کابل پوهنتون, translit=Da Kābul Pohantūn) is one of the major and oldest institutions of higher education in Afghanistan. It is in the 3rd ...

in 1969 to combat

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

in Afghanistan. Its membership was drawn from ethnic

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

, and its ideology from the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

and Abul Ala Maududi's

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fro ...

. Another source describes it as having splintered away from Burhanuddin Rabbani's original Islamist party,

Jamiat-e Islami Jamayat-E-Islami (also rendered as Jamiat-e-Islami and Jamiati Islami; fa, جمعیت اسلامی افغانستان, lit=Islamic Society), sometimes shortened to Jamiat, is a predominantly Tajik political party in Afghanistan. It was origi ...

, in 1976, after Hekmatyar found that group too moderate and willing to compromise with others. In 1979, Mulavi Younas Khalis split with Hekmatyar and established his own Hezbi Islami, known as the

Khalis faction Hezb-e Islami Khalis ( ps, ) is an Afghan political ex-Mujahidin movement under Maulawi Khalis, who separated from Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami and formed his own resistance group in 1979. The two parties were distinguished as Hezb-e I ...

, with its power base in Nangarhar. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's faction is since then referred to as the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, or HIG.

Sources

External links

Sedra, Mark. "The Taliban still larger than life"
''Asia Times Online'', 2004-03-11.

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20170305012604/http://www.dia.mil/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=43BWsnvesZc%3d&tabid=7068&portalid=27&mid=14146 Declassified October 8, 2002 Reportby DIA {{Political parties in Afghanistan Anti-Soviet factions in the Soviet–Afghan War Islamic political parties in Afghanistan Islamic organizations established in 1975 Political parties established in 1975 1975 establishments in Afghanistan