Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Feb. 18 offered an olive branch to the Taliban, shortly after winning a second term in office.

An evidently confident Ghani embraced his supporters at the highly guarded Arg palace in the capital Kabul after the long-awaited results of last September's election were announced.

Afghanistan on Sept. 22 signed a peace agreement with notorious warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, paving the way for him to make a political comeback despite a history of war crimes and after years in hiding.

Hezb-e-Islami, the Afghan Islamist organization headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, announced its support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), International Business Times has reported.