Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Afghanistan's rebel Hizb-i-Islami rebel movement, has released a video denouncing the US as "the mother of problems" and pledging that US and NATO forces will be driven from the country, likely this year. "As long as America remains in Afghanistan and in the region, war and problems will continue," he says in the video. "I can say with full assurance and confidence that America does not have the ability to stay for a long period in Afghanistan... My analysis is that America [will] pull out from Iraq and Afghanistan simultaneously and the withdrawal perhaps will happen this year." (AlJazeera, Feb. 22)

Hekmatyar has a penchant for these kinds of media stunts, and is probably tired of the Taliban getting all the attention.

See our last post on Afghanistan and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.