The Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan, shortened to Hizb-i Wahdat, "the Unity Party", is an Afghan political party founded in 1989. Like most contemporary major political parties in Afghanistan, Hezb-e Wahdat is rooted in the turbulent period of the anti-Soviet resistance movements in Afghanistan in the 1980s. It was formed to bring together nine separate and mostly inimical military and ideological groups into a single entity.
During the Second Afghan Civil War, it emerged as one of the major actors in Kabul and some other parts of the country with support from Iran. Political Shia Islamism was the ideology of most of its key leaders, but the party gradually tilted towards its Hazara ethnic support base and became the key vehicle of the community's political demands and aspirations. Its ideological background and ethnic support base has continuously shaped its character and political agenda. Through the anti-Soviet jihad and the civil war, Hezb-e Wahdat accumulated significant political capital among Afghanistan's Hazaras.
By 2009, however, Hezb-e Wahdat was so fragmented and divided that the political weight it carried in the country bore little resemblance to what it had once been. It had fragmented into at least four competing organizations, each claiming ownership of the name and legacy of Hezb-e Wahdat.Ibrahimi, Niamatullah. 2009. "The Dissipation of Political Capital among Afghanistan’s Hazaras: 2001-2009", Crisis States Working Papers (Working Paper no.51) page 1, London: Crisis States Research Centre, LSE
Background
Following the collapse of the pro-Soviet Kabul government in the Hazarajat in 1979, the region fell under the control of Shura-ye Inqilab (Revolutionary Council of Islamic Unity of Afghanistan), a hastily assembled region-wide organization Farr, Grant M. 1988. "The Rise and Fall of an Indigenous Group: The Shura of the Hazarajat", Afghanistan Studies Journal No.1: pp. 48-61Ibrahimi, Niamatullah. 2006. "The Failure of a Clerical Proto-State: Hazarajat, 1979-1984", Crisis States Working Papers (Series 2) 6, London: Crisis States Research Centre, LSE Soon it was challenged and overthrown by several new radical Islamist groups that engaged in endless power and ideological struggles, however, these were nonviolent and the various groups were still targeting the USSR forces in unity. The wars and conflicts were launched and fought against the USSR forces with strong ideological fervor. However, none of the organizations were able to determine the outcome of the political control of Hazarajat in their favor.Dawlatabadi, Basir Ahmed. 1992. "Shenasnameh ahzab we Haryana-e Casey-e Afghanistan" ("An Introduction to Political Parties and Currents in Afghanistan)." Qom, Iran Towards the second half of the 1980s a complete stalemate was emerging in the region, with each organization confined to specific pockets of territory. As a result, there was an overwhelming desire for change felt both by the villagers and senior leaders of the organizations to unite.Ibrahimi, Niamatullah. 2009. "At the Sources of Factionalism and Civil in Hazarajat", Crisis States Working Papers (Series 2) 41, London: Crisis States Research Centre, LSESamangani, M. Hussain Safarzadah. 2001. Salami-e Jihad Dar Afghanistan (Years of Jihad in Afghanistan), Volume 2 Qom, Iran
Several attempts to make peace and ensure stability failed. Alliances and coalitions were crafted and dismantled. The most important and effective of them were the Shura-ye Etelaf (Tehran Eight), an alliance of eight major armed Shia Afghan (mostly Shia Afghan Hazara) organizations formed in Tehran, Iran in 1985. It was the most effective attempt to achieve unity of action by the leaderships of the organizations and was to become an important precedent for the formation of Hizb-e Wahdat. However, while the alliance provided the Hazara Mujahedin with a common political voice in negotiations and bargaining with the Sunni organizations based in Peshawar, Pakistan, it failed to tackle the incessant ideological friction within the party. To stabilize the region a more radical move was required.Dawlatabadi, Basir Ahmed. 1999. Shura-e Eatelaf, (The Council of Alliance). Tehran: Thaqalain Cultural OrganisationYakawlangi, Qorban Ali Earfani. 1993. Hezb-e Wahdat-e Islami Afghanistan: Az kongara ta Kogarah (Hezb-e Wahdat: from Congress to Congress). Qom, Iran: Afghanistan Authors Cultural Centre.
With the announcement of the Soviet withdrawal in January 1988, the collapse of the Kabul government was believed to be imminent and a dramatic reconfiguration of political alignments was in the making. This was happening at a time when the Kabul government and the ruling Hezb-e Demokratik-e Khalq (People's Democratic Party, PDPA) were experiencing intensive factional and ethnic rivalries. Declining faith in the future of the government facilitated the emergence of new political alignments largely between members of the same ethnic groups, cutting across the ideological divide between the mujahedin and the PDPA officials. In the meantime, negotiations on the formation of an interim government led by the Sunni organizations based in Peshawar excluded the Hazara alliance based in Tehran. The combined effect of these developments among the Hazara organizations was greater awareness of the need for more collective and assertive bargaining with their Sunni counterparts if they were to be taken seriously. It was against this background that a more radical demand for unification and merger of all existing political-military organizations into a single party dominated the politics of the region. Several meetings were held throughout the region in which the nature and composition of the new party and the role of existing organizations in it were debated extensively. In August 1988, the provincial center of Bamyan fell into the hand of Hazara mujahideen. This further facilitated and encouraged the formation of a regional organization. The operation that resulted in the collapse of the government in the town was coordinated jointly by different mujahidin forces in the region. Sazman-e Nasr (Victory Organization) played a central and coordinating role in the attack. This development marked complete the elimination of any presence of the Kabul government within the entire Hazarajat region.Ibrahimi, Niamatullah. 2009. "The Dissipation of Political Capital among Afghanistan’s Hazaras: 2001-2009", Crisis States Working Papers (Working Paper no.51) page 2, London: Crisis States Research Centre, LSE
Henceforth Bamyan was the center of important political developments. It injected a new stimulus into the ongoing unification process among the mujahedin organizations in the region. The town hosted the final meeting that resulted in the declaration of the Misaq-e Wahdat or the unity treaty in July 1989 less than a year after its liberation. It became a center of political leadership and power for the new party beyond and away from the local factional and personal rivalries of local commanders. What contrasted the negotiation process for the formation of Wahdat with similar previous efforts was that it was essentially a process initiated from within the Hazarajat region. The process was informed and shaped by the realities of war, factionalism, and loss of control of the political leadership over military commanders within the region. Conversely, the previous coalition-building efforts were centered in Iran and were often under the direct influence of the Iranian authorities. Once it was formed, its leaders faced the challenge of convincing their representatives at the Shuray-e Eatelaf and officials of the Iranian government, who were more at ease with dealing with a coalition of separate parties in Tehran. The fragmentation of the Hazara mujahedin had given the Iranians effective leverage to control small organizations, often tied to various religious authorities and government agencies in Iran. The Iranians feared that a single party based inside Afghanistan could mean they would lose control over the movement. Furthermore, the increasingly evident ethnic discourse within the party was seen unfavorably by the Iranian authorities who had for years tried to promote a more pan-Shiite political Islamism during the period of jihad. Husain Ibrahimi, the representative of the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Afghan affairs at that time, is alleged to have tried to prevent the formation of Hizb-e Wahdat in order to maintain his influence. Eventually, once the party was formed, the Iranians decided to work with it and supported it in the early days of its existence. But, as the subsequent course of political developments (discussed below) shows, the party was to pursue a rather independent political strategy, often in conflict with Iranian policies and interests in the country.Ibrahimi, Niamatullah. 2009. "The Dissipation of Political Capital among Afghanistan’s Hazaras: 2001-2009", Crisis States Working Papers (Working Paper no.51) page 2-3, London: Crisis States Research Centre, LSE
Hezbe Wahdat
As the name Wahdat (Unity) indicates, the main objective of the party was to unify all Shiite mujahedin organizations under a single political leadership. It was created in response to a strong urge for unity among the Hazara leaders as well as commoners.Canfield, Robert L. 2004. New Trends Among the Hazaras: From ‘The Amity of Wolves’ to ‘the Practice of Brotherhood’. St. Louis: Washington University.Harpviken, Kristian Berg. 1998. ‘The Hazara of Afghanistan: The Thorny Path towards Political Unity, 1978–1992’, in Touraj Atabaki & John O’Kane (eds), Post-Soviet Central Asia. London: I. B. Tauris.
In its organizational hierarchy, the party included the following key structures:
Shuray-e Aali Nezarat, (the Supreme Supervisory Council), was meant to include high-ranking religious figures and experts. In its supervisory role, the council was tasked to monitor all levels of the party and serve as the highest leadership and control mechanism over all activities and policies of the party. The next and most important body within the party was its Central Council. This organ was the most powerful deliberative and decision-making authority within the party. Because of the importance attached to it, its membership expanded in a most dramatic manner. Originally, it was planned to include 36 members, but the growing need for expansion and inclusion of other figures and groups into the party resulted in a constant increase in size. The first congress of the party in September 1991 urged the party leadership to facilitate integration of other Shiite groups and figures into the party. As such it was also resolved that the central and supervisory councils could be expanded as needed.Yakawlangi, Qorban Ali Earfani. 1993. Hizb-e Wahdat-e Islami Afghanistan: Az kongara ta kongarah (Hezb-e Wahdat: from Congress to Congress) p271. Qom, Iran: Afghanistan Authors Cultural Centre. At its peak, the Central Council included more than 80 members representing nearly all religious and political groups and influential figures in the region, as well as Hazara figures from the cities. It was through membership and division of power within this council that the party managed to hold the previously fragmented and hostile Hazara political groupings together. The Wahdat Manifesto also provided for the formation of provincial- and district-level councils that would report to their relevant committees at the headquarters in Bamyan.