The Ministry of Defense (MoD) on Thursday strongly rejected a recent statement by the leader of Hizb-e-Islami, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, that the ongoing war in Afghanistan was ethnic conflict.
Afzal Aman, Senior Associate Deputy Minister of National Defense said the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) were fighting against insurgents.
Afghan soldiers in the battlefield said the same, and stated they are fighting terrorists and enemies of the people of Afghanistan.
“We are serving our people day and night, this is not a war of ethnicity, language or religion, we render sacrifices of our lives without any discrimination, we are fighting against international terrorism,” said one ANA soldier.
In addition, Hizb-e-Mahaz-e-Milli party has also rejected Hekmatyar’s remarks on the ongoing war in the country.
Addressing a crowd of about 3,000 Hizb-e-Islami supporters at the start of their three-day national assembly in Kabul on Wednesday, Hekmatyar said the ongoing war in Afghanistan was between two ethnicities.
“We are fighting those who are committing aggression against our nation and our civilization,” said Afghan National Army (ANA) solder Hekmatullah.
“We do not fight against an ethnic group, we are fighting against the enemies of people of Afghanistan and the terrorists,” said ANA officer in Kunduz Hafizullah.
“These wars are taking roots from the hostile objectives of the terrorists who are funded by foreign sources and then fight against the people of Afghanistan,” said Aman.
“This is not an ethnic war, if we call it enemy or call it Taliban, we must realize that Talib (Taliban) is not a Pashtun phenomenon, because we have non-Pashtun people in Sar-e-Pul, Takhar and Badakhshan,” said Sayed Hamed Gailani, chairman of Hizb-e-Mahaz-e-Milli party.
“The Afghan war is not an ethnic war, it is the war of our sovereignty,” said Sediq Patman, Afghan political analyst.
This comes after the Afghan government said a few months ago that security forces are battling at least 20 domestic and foreign insurgent groups in the country.