A Brief Overview on the life of the Warlord of Herat “Continued”:
After fleeing to Iran, Ismail Khan organized anti-Taliban forces and maintained contact with other warlords, including Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Massoud.
At that time, Iran acted as a sanctuary for the Taliban’s opponents, and Ismail Khan took this opportunity to plan for the recapture of Herat and his return to Afghanistan.
In 1996 (1375 SH), with the support of Iran, he entered Afghanistan and once again engaged in battle with the Taliban forces to reclaim the geography of Herat; a war that, if victorious, would yield no more than securing the personal interests of Ismail Khan and his patrons.
Ismail Khan, along with his forces, organized attacks against the Taliban, but these efforts failed and ended in defeat due to the lack of popular support and the exposure of the true face of the warlords.
He was captured by the Taliban on 28th of Sawr, 1376 in the city of Maimana, the capital of Faryab Province, and later spent three years in a Taliban prison in Kandahar Province.
Ismail Khan managed to escape from the Taliban prison in the last month of 1379 (2001) and sought refuge in Iran once again; however, this escape marked a turning point in his life, and after this event, he was able to return to the political and military scene in Afghanistan.
At a time when the civil wars had ended and the infamous rule of warlords had been eradicated from this land, the people of Afghanistan had recently tasted security and peace, and their minds were at ease; happy days that unfortunately did not last long.
With the onset of the brutal ground and air attacks by the American occupiers and their allies, Ismail Khan, like other warlords, seized the opportunity, emerged from hiding, and fought alongside the occupiers against the Afghan people.
The unequal battle that marked the beginning of twenty years of American occupation of Afghanistan and the miseries that befell the suffering people of this land from that day onward; a confrontation where one side consisted of warlords and occupiers, and on the other side, the Afghan nation and its true children.
With the start of the international coalition attacks led by the United States in Maizan 1380 SH (October 2001), Ismail Khan returned from Iran to Herat and, with the air support of the occupiers, retook Herat from the Taliban.
Although in the early days when the warlords took up arms, they shouted “Allahu Akbar” and considered themselves defenders of the nation and the sacred tenets of Islamic law, over time, in pursuit of their personal interests, they did not hesitate to commit any treachery or betrayal against their own people and spilled the blood of innocent people whom they once claimed to defend in the streets and markets of this land.
Yes! Not only Ismail Khan but other warlords as well, during the American invasion and its allies in Afghanistan, instead of standing against the American occupiers, stood alongside them and, in their quest for power, not only did they not prevent their crimes, but in numerous instances, they stained their hands with the blood of the innocent Afghan people even more than the occupiers.
To be continued…
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