Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had once been Prime Minister of Afghanistan, for a total of two years, during the 1990s civil war, which he had an especially important role in starting.
As Prime Minister of the country, he set up artillery on the heights above Kabul, and proceeded to rocket and shell his own capital, and the civilian population who lived there.
Now, some 27 years later, he has entered the race for president of Afghanistan.
Here are two newspaper reports on the matter. I would point out the phrase “historic war crimes”, in the first, from Reuters. This is how, in a press service dispatch, you would need to describe him, when reporting on his announced candidacy for president.
A former warlord accused of historic war crimes entered Afghanistan’s presidential race on Saturday in a new challenge to President Ashraf Ghani who allowed him to return from exile two decades he was forced out by the Taliban.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose fighters killed thousands in Kabul during the bloody civil war of the 1990s, has remained a divisive figure since his return from exile in 2016.
His decision to contest the presidential polls in July is seen by analysts as the ex-warlord’s attempt legitimize his Hizb-i-Islami party. The faction has been blamed for atrocities committed during Afghanistan’s brutal civil war, which led many Afghans to welcome the emergence of the Taliban in 1996 in the hope the hardline Islamist group would restore law and order.
Former Afghan warlord Hekmatyar enters presidential race, Reuters
Gulbudin Hekmatyar, a former Afghan warlord and leader of the Hezb-e-Islami political party, registered with the country's Election Commission on Saturday to contest the July 20 presidential election.
Hekmatyar registered his name with the poll body along with his two deputies - Fazal Hadi Wazin and Qazi Hafiz Ur Rehman Naqi - who will run for first and second Vice Presidents in the polls, the Khaama Press reported.
Hekmatyar is believed to be responsible for killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Kabul during the 1990s civil war and was nicknamed the "Butcher of Kabul".
Former Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to contest presidential polls, Khaleej Times
Hekmatyar fled Afghanistan in 1997, after the Taliban had taken Kabul. He is thought to have taken refuge in Iran.
In 2016, the government of Afghanistan, under president Ashraf Ghani, concluded a peace deal with Hekmatyar. He returned to Afghanistan in 2017.
The peace deal had the backing of the United Nations, and the United States.
A wild-card candidate who entered the race on Saturday is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the former anti-Soviet militia leader who became a longtime fugitive after being accused of numerous abuses and sanctioned by the United Nations and the United States.
Afghan president and 14 rivals launch race for July elections, Pamela Constable, Washington Post
I found the involvement of the United Nations in a deal to bring a war criminal back to Afghanistan to be jaw dropping, more in the way the deal was concluded than in the fact of it.
Under the concept of restorative justice, more the historical practice of it than the values, you might trade off justice for peace.
And since the United States, after invading Afghanistan, had essentially brought in warlord war criminals throughout the government of Afghanistan, you could argue, why not Hekmatyar too?
But the United Nations and the United States, when supporting the deal for Hekmatar’s return, had simply ignored his history. A tradeoff of justice for peace would at least seek some truth, as in a Truth and Reconciliation process.
At a time of high focus on collusion between Donald Trump, and the government of Russia, and Russian interference in American affairs, American collusion with the government of Afghanistan, bringing a war criminal back to Afghan political affairs, and then his candidacy for president, is just plain ignored by our entire country, with the exception of some traditional news media outlets, such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, who have reported on the matter to, basically, a national blindness.