How to recognize Hekmatyar in the study of public opinion?
Author: Dr. Fazlmanullah Mumtaz, Afghanistan and Regional Affairs Analyst (Kabul), especially for "Sangar"
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is one of the political, military, and cultural figures of Afghanistan who has played both a positive and a negative role in the events of the country for half a century.
Thousands of articles and books have been written about his controversial personality by his fans and rivals, but so far no one has evaluated his personality in terms of public opinion research.
96 percent of his colleagues in the movement and party either broke away from their party or quietly distanced themselves. The vast majority of them are silent because of expediency or fear to talk about the negative aspects of Hekmatyar's personality. After all, everyone knows that he is extremely cruel and uncompromising with his rivals and critics. His history is full of revenge, especially since he behaved very harshly toward his intra-party rivals. Therefore, in this context, I will briefly mention some of his controversial character traits:
1 - Hekmatyar looks very good-natured, friendly, and calm on the outside, but inside he is full of evil;
2 - Hekmatyar is extremely stingy, he lacks emotions, intelligence, and sympathy, and he forgets the good done to him;
3 - Hekmatyar is extremely unfaithful, and breaks promises and covenants, contrary to what it seems at first glance, all his alliances and friendships were temporary and calculated;
4 - Hekmatyar is extremely selfish and ambitious, he has not refused and will not refuse any means to achieve his goals;
5 - Hekmatyar has a sharp and extraordinary talent for negativism and does not have a long-term plan;
6 - Hekmatyar does not trust anyone in his life, he constantly changes friends, and he is especially afraid of talented people. He immediately thinks about destroying the personality of such people;
7 - For fifty years, no one knew of the wealth of his party, except for some of his close friends, primarily his sons-in-law, but he does not trust them either;
8 - Hekmatyar is never trustworthy in keeping his secrets. His secrets are revealed when he is emotional. He cannot hide his good mood and hatred and shows them in one form or another. All of Hekmatyar's secrets have been revealed before, with the exception of the financial ones;
9 - Hekmatyar never has constant friends or enemies, he is ready to make a deal with everyone based on his interests, whether he is a Muslim or an atheist;
10 - Hekmatyar is never friends with wisdom, on the contrary, his actions are always accompanied by emotions, and at the last moment he joins the defeated caravans and rides on broken ships;
11 - The key and lock of financial, political, military, and information affairs are always in his own hands. Its executive members and advisors can only say, "Yes, sir." He hates independent and free-thinking people very much. For this reason, 96% of his followers distanced themselves from him;
12 - Hekmatyar has no ethnic prejudice, but if his interests require it, he does not hesitate to use them. At one time he suppressed such feelings, and at another time he asked for the cooperation and help of his fellow tribesmen and covered himself with ethnic slogans;
13 - Hekmatyar is a very envious, conflicted, angry, spiteful, skeptical, flattering, and ungrateful person;
14 - Hekmatyar hates hospitality, generosity, charity, and community relations. He only gives a "ticket to paradise" to his followers and that's it;
15 - Hekmatyar is a controversial and multifaceted personality, his sharp talent became the source of his false pride;
16 - Finally, it must be said that he is a failed leader who has no plan. Here the question will come to everyone's mind if he had and still has such shortcomings, then why is he still a leader? The answer can be found in the book "The Bear Trap" by Pakistani Colonel Muhammad Yusuf (head of the Afghan Bureau of ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan) during Jihad against Shuravi), who writes: “When Hekmatyar refused to meet with US President Reagan, Pakistani Prime Minister Ziyaulhaq said, “Tell Hekmatyar to stop his arbitrariness. We created you and we can destroy you."
