Abdul Haq

Abdul Haq
Born	April 23, 1958 Nangarhar, Afghanistan
Died	October 26, 2001 East of Afghanistan
Years of service	1977-2001
Battles/wars	Soviet war in Afghanistan

Abdul Haq (born Humayoun Arsala; April 23, 1958 - October 26, 2001) was an Afghan Pashtun mujahideen commander who fought against the Soviets and Afghan communists during the Soviet-Afghan War. He was executed by the Taliban in October 2001 while trying to create a popular uprising against the Taliban in Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11th attacks.^[1]

Early life

Abdul Haq was born in Fatehabad, Afghanistan, a small village in Nangarhar province, although he soon moved with his family to Helmand. His father, Mohammed Ana, was the representative in Helmand for a Nangarhar construction company, and was relatively wealthy by Afghan standards.^[2] His family was well connected, part of the Arsala Khel family, which is a part of the Jabar Khel (a subtribe of the land-owning Ahmadzai tribe). His paternal great-grandfather, Wazir Arsala Khan, had once been the foreign minister of Afghanistan; a cousin, Hedayat Arsala, was a World Bank director working in Washington, D.C. who later became Vice President of Afghanistan in Hamid Karzai's administration.^[3]

Haq also had two older brothers (Haji Din Mohammad and Abdul Qadir), and one younger brother (Nasrullah Baryalai Arsalai). Abdul Qadir was an early backer of Hamid Karzai, who was rewarded with a cabinet position, before he was assassinated in 2002. Din Muhammad is the leader of the Hezb-e Islami Khalis party.^[4]

From his own account, Haq was an unruly child, who after persuading his father to register him for school at the early age of five, once hit a teacher who was sleeping on the job.^[5] A year after that his 51 year old father died of kidney disease, prompting Din Mohammad to assume leadership of the family,^[6] and prompting the family to move back to their extended family in Nangarhar.

Back in Fatehabad, Haq began attending Koranic school under the tutelage of local mullahs, and once reaching the age of eight, began studying at the lycée. It was here where he started challenging the Communist ideology of some of his teachers.^[7]

Mujahideen years

Haq first engaged in the fight against communist domination of Afghanistan in 1977, initially without external support, then with the Hizb-i-Islami faction led by Mohammad Yunus Khalis - not to be mistaken with the Hezb-i-Islami faction of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Haq coordinated mujahideen activities in the province of Kabul.^[4] He gained recognition for his tactical skills and bravery, and his reputation as a uniter led to leadership positions throughout Afghanistan.

Haq was one of the CIA's few Afghan contacts in the early years of the war; Coll writes that he "grew to become Howard Hart's most important Afghan guide to the anti-Soviet war."^[8] Later in the 1980s he became a critic of ISI and (after his relationship with them ended) the CIA.^[9] The CIA labelled him Hollywood Haq - the Hollywood Commander.

Haq was injured several times, including the loss of part of his right heel. Because of his injuries, he often fought battles against the Soviets from horseback.^[10]

Post-war period

Haq was briefly a cabinet minister for internal security during the interim after the ouster of the communists, and the Taliban's assumption of power, but he left office because of internecine struggles and settled in Dubai, where it was reported he became a successful merchant.^[10]

In 1998, he became a United Nations Peace Mediator.^[10]

In January 1999, unknown assailants killed Haq's watchman, entered his home, and murdered his wife and son in Hayatabad. Another of Haq's sons survived the raid.^[11]

9/11 and execution

Abdul Haq during his last years, 1999-2001

Following the al-Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001 against the United States, Abdul Haq entered Afghanistan from Pakistan in an attempt to build support for resistance to the Taliban. Some sources have speculated that the CIA supported this initiative^[12] but family members have denied this claim. Former CIA director George Tenet reports that, at the recommendation of Bud McFarlane, CIA officials met with Abdul Haq in Pakistan and after assessing his capabilities urged him not to enter Afghanistan.^[13] After a spectacular chase,^[14] he was captured by the Taliban along with nineteen others between the towns of Hisarak and Azro, and was executed on October 26, 2001.^[4] The Guardian speculates that his capture was due to a betrayal by double agents.^[10] Some reports soon after his death blamed the CIA for siding too closely with Pakistan's ISI, which did not wish to see Afghans united across ethnic lines, and for failing to intervene to rescue him from his Taliban captors. This version was solidified by reports of tension between Haq and American agents after an interview in which he stated "...we cannot be [America's] puppet." He was one of many Afghan rebel leaders opposed to the U.S. intervention.^[15]

An obituary in The Guardian called Abdul Haq an "astute leader", and one of the few Afghans capable of working to bring together a working pan-ethnic loya jirga.^[10]

Notes

References

Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (June 2010)

• Kaplan, Robert D. Soldiers of God: With the Mujahidin in Afghanistan. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990. ISBN 0-395-52132-7
• Kurt Lohbeck.Holy War, Unholy Victory: Eyewitness to the CIA'S Secret War in Afghanistan.1993
• Coll, Steve."Ghost Wars."

External links

• Afghan Warrior: The Life and Death of Abdul Haq, BBC Four
• Hollywood Haq Documentary Film, Demir Yanev