Ahmad Massoud: We need foreign support

According to Isna, Ahmad Masoud, the leader of Panjshir Front, said in a detailed interview with CNN: “We need any kind of support that will help us defeat the Taliban… Our fight is not only for Afghanistan, but for “Security is universal.”

Ahmad Masoud is the son of “Ahmad Shah Masoud”, who led the Afghan resistance against the Taliban more than 20 years ago. 35-year-old Massoud claims that the forces under his command, known as the Panjshir Front, have conducted 207 military operations throughout Afghanistan this year and have 5,000 soldiers.

CNN says that it is not possible to confirm this claim, and the United Nations also recently mentioned the number of Panjshir Front operations against the Taliban as 29 operations, but this group believes that the number of operations against the Taliban is much higher.

According to CNN, when Ahmad Shah Masoud was fighting with the Taliban, he controlled some areas inside Afghanistan and received support from Tajikistan, but the location of Ahmad Masoud is unclear and he managed military operations in Afghanistan from somewhere in Central Asia. does, so it does not control any territory inside Afghanistan that would help meet the needs of its forces.

In this regard, Massoud claimed that 20 terrorist organizations are active in Afghanistan and said: “I say clearly that in order to defeat these 20 terrorist organizations… we need international support… Our fight is not only for Afghanistan, but for global security. is.”

He also accused the Taliban of creating a black market to sell American weapons and said: “We know that they are not only busy arming themselves, but also feeding global terrorist networks.”

The leader of the Panjshir Front clarified that he does not mean the need for foreign support, the presence of foreign troops.

He said: “We have capable forces that have been trained in counter-terrorism for 20 years. That’s why we are looking for resources, not foreign forces, to liberate our country.”

Afghans do not support the Taliban; Their downfall is inevitable

However, addressing those who say that resistance is useless without foreign support, he said that the Taliban may have billions of dollars in weapons, but “it does not have the support of the Afghan people” and this will play a decisive role in this conflict.

He further claimed that the Taliban’s dominance over Afghanistan is weakening due to the crisis of legitimacy and internal disputes, and the Panjshir Front is developing a mechanism to replace it. He considered the fall of the Taliban government “inevitable” and said that he is preparing for that moment.

Massoud also responded to a question about the Taliban’s promise to form an inclusive government with the presence of different sections of the society, saying that “this is a propaganda promise and they basically do not accept the importance of the will of the people in political legitimacy”.

Massoud also stated that the Taliban are involved in extensive internal disputes and said, “They are not capable of creating unity among their internal movements, let alone forming an inclusive government at the national level.”

Ashraf Ghani was the most ineffective of all

In response to a question about the ineffectiveness of the Afghan governments before the Taliban came to power, Ahmad Massoud said: “They were also corrupt and full of mistakes, because the constitution and the election process were not proportionate to the ethnic diversity of Afghanistan.”

He considered the previous governments, including Ashraf Ghani’s government, to have systematic and deep-rooted problems and said: “These governments and the former constitution of this country pushed many communities to marginalization.”

“I firmly believe that the key to Afghanistan’s peace and stability lies in the distribution of power,” he said, stating that the situation became worse than ever under Ghani’s government. This (distribution of power) is a strategic need to build a stable and resilient country that can deal with internal diversity and external threats.

Negotiations with the US made the Taliban credible

The leader of the Panjshir Front also considered the 2020 Doha agreement (between Donald Trump and the Taliban) and Biden’s statements in 2021 about withdrawing from Afghanistan as factors that gave the Taliban international legitimacy and indicated the end of Western support for the then Afghan government. Stating that the Doha agreement weakened the morale of the security forces and government officials of the then Afghan government, he said that “the announcement of Biden’s departure worsened the situation and caused the loss of the 20-year achievements of Afghans.”

He said that the spirit of negotiating with the Taliban made this group stronger than before. Massoud said that the main victory of the Taliban was not on the battlefield, but on the negotiating table: “Negotiations turned the Taliban from an insurgent group into a political actor and gave it credibility.”

According to Ahmad Massoud, if America had withdrawn its forces from Afghanistan without negotiating with the Taliban, the Taliban would not have come to power.

He said: “This big mistake (negotiations with the Taliban) gave them a victory that they had not achieved in armed conflicts.”

Panjshir Front has built a network in 20 provinces

Claiming that the Panjshir Front has now built a network and is conducting operations in almost 20 provinces of Afghanistan, he said: “Most of these operations are guerrilla operations, but the military wing of the Panjshir Front has been deployed throughout Afghanistan and is recruiting and increasing its operational capacity.” is”.

According to Ahmad Massoud, the soldiers of the Panjshir Front are completely composed of the remnants of the armed forces of the former government of Afghanistan, and today their number reaches more than 5,000 permanent forces in about 20 provinces. He says that without foreign support, he has conducted 207 operations throughout the country this year.

However, in response to a question about the claim of the soldiers of this group to attack the Kabul airport last month, he refused to give a clear answer and claimed that his forces have established a deep intelligence network among the Taliban.

The assassination of my father changed the path of the Afghan nation

Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated by al-Qaeda a few days before the September 11 attacks. In an interview with CNN, his son considered his father’s assassination a moment that changed the path of the family and the entire nation of Afghanistan forever.

He also pointed out that the American military left about 8.5 billion dollars of American military equipment in this country when they left Afghanistan, and said: “The fact that the Taliban are equipped with these weapons has changed the nature of the battlefield and they are more armed than ever.” are”.

However, he said that the determination of the Afghan people is against the Taliban.

He further considered the new law of the Taliban, which prohibits the voice of women in public, as a “clear display of ignorance and arrogance” that will make it more difficult for the Taliban government to be recognized.

He also considered the immunity of the Taliban when adopting these policies as a direct result of the “surrender of the international community” to the Taliban and said that the world should change its behavior towards the Taliban.

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