South Asia Studies Project

March 7, 2012 Special Dispatch No.4555 Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Condemns Koran Burning, Calls for Jihad: 'Those Who Possess Weapons and Can Wage Jihad – Should Join the Ranks of the Mujahideen' In the wake of recent anti-U.S. protests in Afghanistan over the Koran desecration by U.S. troops at Bagram Air Base, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the fugitive chief of the Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan, issued a statement calling for jihad. Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan is the second largest militant group after the Taliban. Following is the the statement, which was published in the Pashtu-language Pakistani newspaper The full text of this report is available to MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Subscribers. Subscription information is available at this link. JTTM subscribers can visit this page to view the report.