As a child he saw his father dragged out of their home in a midnight raid, while his grandfather — feared warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar — was accused of killing thousands during Afghanistan’s civil war in the 1990s.
However, Obaidullah Baheer, 31, has put his family’s bitter past behind him, and set his sights on a future of peace and reconciliation.
“We have to let go, we have to choose a point of [new] beginning,” Baheer, who now teaches a course on transitional justice at the American University of Afghanistan, said in an interview.
Photo: AFP / Courtesy of Obaidullah Baheer
Born right before Afghanistan’s brutal civil war when anti-Soviet militant factions fought one another after defeating the Red Army, Baheer grew up in Pakistan.
His grandfather, a former Afghan prime minister and founder of the Hezb-i-Islami militia, earned the “Butcher of Kabul” nickname after laying siege on Kabul, when multiple power players were vying for control of Afghanistan.
Attempting to take the capital from forces led by then-Afghan minister of defense Ahmad Shah Massoud — who gained folk hero status after his 2001 assassination — Hekmatyar’s forces battered the city with rockets that left thousands dead and wounded.
Decades later, victims of that assault still confront Baheer.
While speaking at a recent conference in Kabul about his childhood in exile, a woman blamed Hekmatyar for the killing of her father.
“There is nothing I can say or do, except say: ‘I’m sorry, it wasn’t me,’” Baheer said.
Hekmatyar and Baheer’s father, Ghairat Baheer, have also faced Washington’s wrath for opposing the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Hekmatyar was designated a terrorist at the time, but has been included in recent Afghan peace talks.
The US military last week handed over the main Bagram Air Base near Kabul to Afghan forces, effectively completing the withdrawal of its troops after two decades of military involvement that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Ghairat Baheer — who headed Hezb-i-Islami’s political bureau — was detained at Bagram’s prison after he was dragged from the family’s home in Islamabad by people Obaidullah Baheer said were CIA officers.
Married to Hekmatyar’s daughter, he was imprisoned for years at several locations in Afghanistan and tortured, including being held for months in solitary confinement, Obaidullah Baheer said.
Obaidullah Baheer said that he used to hate Americans, but that perception has changed over time.
“At a point of my life, I realized it’s not common American people who did that,” he said.
“It’s people that don’t know me who hate me... That’s why our fighters hate the West, because they don’t know the West,” he said.
For Obaidullah Baheer the road ahead is clear for Afghanistan — one of peace and reconciliation — although past efforts have largely failed.
The latest peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government have also been deadlocked for months as fighting rages across the countryside. For Obaidullah Baheer, the future involves a new relationship with the US by joining the American University — and letting go of his bitter childhood memories.
At the same time, the tall slender man with glasses refuses to hide his affection for his grandfather.
“How do you stop loving your family?” he said.
Higher education in Australia helped him onto the path of reconciliation — although even there he had to listen to shocking stories about his grandfather in classroom discussions.
“Before we move forward, I want to tell you I’m Hekmatyar’s grandson,” he told one of his teachers, who served in the Australian army and was deployed in Afghanistan.
“He was shocked, but his only concern was for me not to be biased,” he said.
Obaidullah Baheer returned to Kabul in 2018 after Hekmatyar’s return from isolation following a peace deal with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
“Hekmatyar is very proud of his grandson,” said Victoria Fontan, the director of American University who was instrumental in getting Obaidullah Baheer to the institution.
“Yes, he is proud,” Obaidullah Baheer said, adding that Hekmatyar often jokes that he should not say bad things about the family at the university.
“I told my grandfather I’m a political analyst, I’m a lecturer. I’ll speak my mind and tell the truth,” he said.
However, hopes of reconciliation aside, Obaidullah Baheer does fear what might come next.
“The system may very well collapse. We could be even more at risk of a new civil war,” he said.
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