Afghanistan |
Israel |
Afghan-Israeli relations are non-existent today, despite 2005 hints that Afghanistan might establish formal relations with Israel in the future. [1]
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During the 1980s, Israel provided armament and training to Afghan mujahideen fighting Soviet forces and the secular communist government in Kabul. Thousands of mujahideen fighters, particularly from the Hezb-e Islami faction of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, were trained by Israeli instructors.[2]
In an October 2005 interview in Kabul with a reporter from the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth, Afghan President Hamid Karzai hinted at a desire to establish formal ties with Israel. [3] When "there is further progress [in the Mideast peace process], and the Palestinians begin to get a state of their own, Afghanistan will be glad to have full relations with Israel," he said. He revealed that he had met Shimon Peres several times, and called him a "dear man, a real warrior for peace."[4]
In the wake of the 2008-2009 Gaza conflict, 50,000 Afghans signed up in Kabul as a symbolic gesture to fight Israel.[5] Chants of "death to Israel" rang through the streets for a week.[5] Many Afghans lined up to donate blood to Palestinians.[5]In January 2009, Karzai called Israel's invasion of Gaza "barbaric like the Communist invasion (of 1979)."[5]
The Jewish community of Afghanistan dates back 800 years. In 1948, it numbered 5,000. Most of the remaining families fled in the wake of the Soviet invasion of 1979.[6] Only one Jew, Zablon Simintov, remains today.[7]
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