US drones come from Doha or Tajikistan, says Hekmatyar

KABUL (Pajhwok): Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) leader Gulbuddin Hekmtayar believes US drones possibly enter Afghanistan airspace through Qatar, Pakistan or Tajikistan.

US President Joe Biden announced last month that Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had been killed in an American drone strike in Afghanistan’s capital.

The caretaker Afghan government, without saying anything about the killing of Zawahiri, confirmed the drone attack in Sherpur neighborhood, slamming it as a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty, international principles and the Doha agreement.

Later, the Islamic Emirate issued a statement, saying they had no information about the entry and presence of Zawahiri in Kabul.

Earlier, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the caretaker government, said the US drones were still flying over Afghanistan. He added this action was a clear violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and talks were underway with American officials in this regard.

Last week, Acting Defense Minister Mualvi Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid alleged US drones entered Afghanistan through Pakistan, asking Islamabad not to allow the use of its airspace against Kabul.

He said their information showed US drones entered Afghanistan from Pakistan’s territory, imploring Islamabad not to use its airspace against the movement.

Pakistan termed Yaqub’s accusations “conjectural allegations”. In a statement, the Foreign Office spokesperson said that the statement was “highly regrettable” and defied the “norms of responsible diplomatic conduct”.

In his Friday sermon at a Kabul mosque, the HIA leader said: “The Afghan government says US drones enter Afghanistan from Pakistan, but Islamabad rejects these claims, so the question is from where these aircrafts come?”

He said there were two possibilities; first these American planes come from the main US base in Doha, passing through Pakistan’s airspace and perhaps the neighboring country in such situation was unable to prevent it or confess it, because the vast majority of Pakistani people were against this.

Hekmaryar added the vast majority of Pakistani people considered the previous friendship with America a bitter experience and did not want this experience to be repeated and the former Pakistan prime minister and his group was against US drone attacks.

He added the second possibility was that these drones were coming from Tajikistan as the country had handed over an airbase called Farkhar to America.

“The important point is that the truth should be known. Afghans should know what our neighbors are doing to us? Are they doing what they did in the past 21 years? They helped NATO, gave bases, provided their airspace under the control of the invaders for 20 years,” he remarked.

sa/ma

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