Hezbi Islami

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Hezbi Islami (also Hezb-e Islami, Hezb-i-Islami, Hezbi-Islami, Hezb-e-Islami), meaning Islamic Party is an Islamic political party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The party was established by Hekmatyar in Pakistan in 1975 and grew out of the Muslim Youth organization, an Islamist organization founded in Kabul by students and teachers at Kabul University in 1969 to combat communism in Afghanistan. Hekmatyar and his party were mainly Pashtuns who operated near the Pakistani border against Soviet Communists. Areas such as Kunar, Laghman, Jalalabad, and Paktia were Hezb-e Islami's strongholds. In 1979, Mulavi Younas Khalis split with Hekmatyar and established his own Hezbi Islami, known as the Khalis faction, with its powerbase in Nangarhar.

The group has previously had operations in Iran, and is now said to have allied with Mullah Omar and the remnant Taliban. One recent report estimated that Hezbi Islami and the Taliban now command a comparable number of fighters.

Hezbi Islami is currently fighting in Afghanistan but the group is not as powerful as it was in the 1980s.