But only a couple of decades ago, Hekmatyar was the largest recipient of CIA-supplied arms and money channeled through Pakistan's intelligence services.
Moshe Ya'alon, the deputy prime minister, warned that many of the freed men will take up arms again, despite the Israeli security services' best efforts to keep tabs on them.
The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) allow the president to ban foreign sales of military products and services if he deems it in the national interest.
But what did Chemapol want with such businesses as a regional airline, a national newspaper, financial services and Omnipol, which is the country's biggest arms dealer and an ally of British Aerospace?
The occasion was a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee and featured testimony by Dr. Kathleen Bailey, a former Assistant Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and Frank J.