Will Ahmad Masoud be able to stop the Taliban?

The Panj Sher Valley, which became a symbol of resistance against the Soviet Union in the eighties and the Taliban in the nineties, is once again in the headlines. Ahmad Masood, the son of guerrilla commander Ahmad Shah Masood, has declared war against the Taliban.

Ahmad Shah Masood was undoubtedly a guerilla commander with many skills, but apart from his courage and perseverance, his success was due to his access to the outside world, the support of many countries, the presence of important commanders on the battlefield and the important role of the supply line. . His son may have the courage of his father, but other factors are unlike those of the 80s and 90s.

In the 1980s, when Ahmad Shah Masood started resistance against the Soviet Union, a large part of Badakhshan province was out of reach of the Soviet Union. Arms supply to Ahmad Shah Masood from Pakistan was through Badakhshan and Ahmad Shah Masood himself used to come to Pakistan through Badakhshan.

There are still many families in Gabor, a border area of ​​Chitral, who proudly tell the stories of Ahmad Shah Masood’s hospitality. In the 90s, when Ahmad Shah Masood started his defense against the Taliban, this province of Badakhshan remained the source of his survival. During the period of the Northern Alliance, Ahmad Shah Masoud’s contact with the outside world was restored through Tajikistan, and the province of Badakhshan, which connects the Panjsher Valley with Tajikistan, was under the control of the Northern Alliance.

Now the Taliban is in control of Panj Sher including Badakhshan province, while Ahmad Masood’s resistance is not getting the same acceptance at the international level as it was during his father’s time. How long Ahmad Masood’s opposition survives without supplies and international support is the key question.

Ahmad Shah Masood also had the support of commanders with excellent fighting skills on the battlefield. Ustad Atta Noor Muhammad, who was given the title of Ustad by Ahmad Shah Masood himself, belonged to a rich family of Balkh province. He fought side by side with Ahmad Shah Masood in many battles.

In 2001, the city of Mazar-e-Sharif was first liberated from the occupation of the Taliban and it was Atta Noor Muhammad who occupied Mazar-i-Sharif. Later, Ustad Atta Noor was the governor of Balkh province for ten years and according to a report of the Asni Daulat Samiti, he became the richest man in Afghanistan.

In media reports, Atta Noor’s assets were estimated at ten billion dollars. After the arrival of the Taliban, Ustad Atta Noor fled to Uzbekistan along with Mohammad Abdul Rashid Dostum, but the Taliban have a soft spot for Ustad Atta Noor.

After the capture of Herat, Ismail Khan was released by the Taliban and he was entrusted with the responsibility of negotiating with Atta Noor, but the situation changed so rapidly that the Taliban reached Kabul before Ismail Khan reached Atta Noor.

Atta Noor Muhammad’s son Khalid Noor was part of the delegation of Afghan leaders who visited Pakistan on August 15. Now it is to be seen whether Ustad Atta Noor will spend his wealth on Ahmad Masood’s resistance movement or he will resort to politics to save his wealth and join the Taliban in power.

General Faheem and General Dawood were among the most important commanders who fought with Ahmad Shah Masood on the battlefield. After the assassination of General Fahim Ahmad Shah Masood, he became the head of the military wing of the Northern Alliance and when the Taliban regime ended in 2001, it was General Fahim who led the forces of the Northern Alliance to capture Kabul.

On the other hand, in 2001, General Dawood liberated Kunduz province from the Taliban, which was considered to be the stronghold of the Taliban in northern Afghanistan. These two commanders are no longer in this world. Thus, Ahmad Masood does not have any commanders like General Faheem and General Dawood who can perform outstanding deeds in the battlefield.

Ahmad Shah Masood was also supported by allies like Ismail Khan and Abdul Rashid Dostum. How effective Abdul Rasheed Dostum is was assessed in the first two weeks of August. Taliban tightened the siege around Mazar-e-Sharif, then Abdul Rashid Dostum fled to Uzbekistan along with Ustad Atta Noor Muhammad.

Ismail Khan showed resistance in Herat, but he could not stand for long. He has gone to Iran after surrendering to the Taliban. Now Ismail Khan and Abdul Rashid Dostum Umar are in the section, even if they join Ahmad Masood, they will remain outside the battlefield.

Right now there are three big names who are present in Panj Sher province along with Ahmed Masood. The biggest name is that of Amrullah Saleh who was the former Vice President and now declares himself the President of Afghanistan. During the reign of Ahmad Shah Masoud, Amrullah Saleh was the head of the Northern Alliance’s diplomatic mission in Tajikistan.

In 1998, Ahmad Shah Masood and CI contacts were restored and Amrullah Saleh was sent to America for intelligence training. Amrullah Saleh was trained in espionage by the CIA and lived in Tajikistan until 2001, working as a liaison between Ahmad Shah Massoud and other intelligence agencies and supporting countries.

When the Taliban government fell in 2001, Amrullah Saleh held important positions in Hamid Karzai’s administration. Amrullah Saleh had a big hand in the formation of Afghanistan’s secret agency NDS and he was also the head of NDS for many years, but all his training and experience is related to intelligence.

They were not directly involved in guerrilla warfare. The other big name is that of General Bismillah Khan, who was made Acting Minister of Defense by Ashraf Ghani a few days before the fall of Kabul. General Bismillah Khan fought alongside Ahmad Shah Masood on the battlefield and was one of his key commanders. But after spending twenty years in politics, perhaps Bismillah Khan is not so useful. Otherwise, Kabul would not have been captured by the Taliban so quickly.

Amrullah Saleh and General Bismillah Khan are more of a burden than help to Ahmad Masood. Sources in Panj Sher say that these two are the ones who provoked Ahmad Masood to resist, although Ahmad Masood himself is in favor of negotiations, which his uncle and father-in-law Ahmad Wali Masood have also been expressing.

Another close associate of Ahmad Shah Masood, Faheem Dashti is also with Ahmad Masood in Panj Sher and nowadays he is performing the duties of Ahmad Masood’s spokesman.

Two days before 9/11, Faheem Dashti was also present in that room when Ahmad Shah Masood was assassinated. He along with Ahmad Shah Masood was transferred to Tajikistan in a seriously injured condition where Ahmad Shah Masood died of his injuries but Faheem Dashti survived.

After the fall of the Taliban government, Faheem Dashti joined the field of journalism. He published a weekly newspaper from Kabul and was also associated with several TV channels as an anchor. His newspaper was shut down for exposing the corruption of the Hamid Karzai government, and later he was also removed from television screens.

Faheem Dashti has also been supervising the education and training of Ahmad Masood and Faheem Dashti also has a hand in his political training. Faheem Dashti has been a close associate of Ahmad Masood’s father, but he was also a soldier on the battlefield, so even in the current resistance movement, he will be able to support Ahmad Masood with a pen instead of a gun.

Abdullah Abdullah and Hamid Karzai had a big hand in presenting Ahmad Shah Masood as a hero to Europe. Both of them visited many European countries and convinced the western countries to support Ahmad Shah Masood. Iran, Turkey, Tajikistan, India and many other countries of the region were supporting Ahmad Shah Masood to protect their own interests.

As things stand, Abdullah Abdullah and Hamid Karzai are in Kabul and are not even in favor of Ahmed Masood’s resistance movement. While the encouragement of Ahmed Masood did not come from any country except India.

In India too, this support is limited to the media, while on the diplomatic front, India is busy trying to build relations with the Taliban. If we keep this whole scenario in front, Ahmad Masood’s resistance movement seems to be facing difficulties from all sides compared to his father’s resistance.

Note: This article is based on the author’s personal opinion and the institution does not necessarily agree with it.