Ahmad Massoud (
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
/, ; born 1989) is an Afghan politician who is the founder and Leader of the
National Resistance Front of Afghanistan
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), also known as the Second Resistance, is a military alliance of former Northern Alliance members and other anti-Taliban fighters loyal to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The founder and p ...
. He is the eldest son of anti-Soviet military leader
Ahmad Shah Massoud
)
, branch = Jamiat-e Islami / Shura-e Nazar Afghan Armed Forces United Islamic Front
, serviceyears = 1975–2001
, rank = General
, unit =
, commands = Mujahideen commander during the Soviet–Afghan Wa ...
. He was appointed as the CEO of Massoud Foundation in November 2016. On 5 September 2019, he was declared his father's successor at his mausoleum in the
Panjshir Valley
The Panjshir Valley (also spelled Panjsher or Darah-I-Panjshir; Pashto/Dari: – ''Dare-ye Panjšēr''; literally ''Valley of the Five Lions'') is a valley in northeastern Afghanistan, north of Kabul, near the Hindu Kush mountain range. It is di ...
. As a result, he has sometimes been referred to as "The Young Lion of Panjshir". After the Taliban seized control of
Panjshir Valley
The Panjshir Valley (also spelled Panjsher or Darah-I-Panjshir; Pashto/Dari: – ''Dare-ye Panjšēr''; literally ''Valley of the Five Lions'') is a valley in northeastern Afghanistan, north of Kabul, near the Hindu Kush mountain range. It is di ...
on 6 September 2021, Massoud escaped into
Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
along with former
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
Amrullah Saleh
Amrullah Saleh (Pashto/ prs, امرالله صالح, ; born 15 October 1972) is an Afghan politician who served as the first vice president of Afghanistan from February 2020 to August 2021, and acting interior minister from 2018 to 2019. He ...
and currently lives there.
Early life and education
Ahmad Massoud was born in 1989. He is the only son and the oldest of
Ahmad Shah Massoud's six children.
After attending high school in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, Massoud trained at the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...
. In 2012, he commenced an undergraduate degree in
war studies
War studies, sometimes called polemology, is the multi-disciplinary study of war. It pertains to the military, diplomatic, philosophical, social, political, psychological or economic dimensions of human conflict. The word ''polemology'' derives ...
at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in 2015. He obtained his master's degree in international politics from
City, University of London
City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...
in 2016. His undergraduate and postgraduate dissertation topics were the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
.
Career
Massoud returned to Afghanistan and was appointed CEO of the Massoud Foundation in 2016.
[
Since March 2019, Massoud has officially entered politics, a widely anticipated move for one referred to in Panjshir as the "predestined." He has endorsed his father's idea of a Swiss model for internal power relations in Afghanistan, saying that the ]decentralization
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group.
Conce ...
of government and the de-concentration of power from Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
would give a more efficient allocation of resources and authority to provinces in the country, thereby bringing prosperity and stability to the country as a whole.
Massoud objected to the direction of the Afghan peace process
Peace processes have taken place during several phases of the Afghanistan conflict, which has lasted since the 1978 Saur Revolution.
The National Reconciliation Policy during the Karmal and Najibullah governments from the mid-1980s to 1992 ha ...
in 2019, which he believed did not represent the interests of all Afghans. In September of that year, he announced the creation of a new coalition of mujahideen
''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...
leaders modeled on the Northern Alliance
The Northern Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( prs, جبهه متحد اسلامی ملی برای نجات افغانستان ''Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islāmi-yi Millī barāyi Nijāt ...
that resisted the Taliban in the 1990s. The coalition, known as the Second Resistance or National Resistance Front of Afghanistan
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), also known as the Second Resistance, is a military alliance of former Northern Alliance members and other anti-Taliban fighters loyal to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The founder and p ...
, became one of several independent military forces built up ahead of the United States military withdrawal. After most of the country surrendered to the Taliban during its 2021 offensive, Massoud and First Vice President Amrullah Saleh
Amrullah Saleh (Pashto/ prs, امرالله صالح, ; born 15 October 1972) is an Afghan politician who served as the first vice president of Afghanistan from February 2020 to August 2021, and acting interior minister from 2018 to 2019. He ...
met in Panjshir and declared their rejection of Taliban rule. He appealed in the American press for military and logistical support for his forces. Among other reasons, he listed the need to protect women's rights, prevent public executions, and avoid the return of a safe haven in Afghanistan for international terrorists.
On 22 August 2021, he warned of a potential civil war if there is not a power-sharing agreement and said that war was "unavoidable" under those circumstances, saying "We defeated the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, we can defeat the Taliban". He has founded the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), also known as the Second Resistance, is a military alliance of former Northern Alliance members and other anti-Taliban fighters loyal to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The founder and p ...
(NRF) which has thousands of fighters. Massoud has asked the U.S., France and others in Europe and the Arab world to support the NRF. He has also stated his desire to negotiate with the Taliban, but that if talks fail he is ready for a military confrontation.
On 6 September, with the Taliban taking control of the Panjshir Valley, Massoud moved to an unknown location and said the resistance will continue. On 9 September, Massoud's spokesman Ali Maisam Nazary
Ali Maisam Nazary (Persian: علی میثم نظری, born 1990) is an Afghan politician; since August 2021 he is head of Foreign Relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF).
Education
Ali Nazary is an alumnus of the Unive ...
stated that both Massoud and acting Islamic Republic of Afghanistan President Amrullah Saleh were "safe" and still in Afghanistan. Nazary also disputed reports that the Taliban had full control of the Province, stating that 60% was still under National Resistance Front control, and stated that NRF forces made a "tactical withdrawal" from some areas. On 8 September French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy (; ; born 5 November 1948) is a French public intellectual. Often referred to in France simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the " Nouveaux Philosophes" (New Philosophers) movement in 1976. His opinions, political acti ...
shared a photo of himself talking to Massoud in Panjshir in 2020 on his Twitter page and also disputed the reports of the Taliban taking full control of the province.
See also
*Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)
The Afghanistan conflict is a series of events and wars that have kept History of Afghanistan, Afghanistan in a continuous state of armed conflict since 1978. The country's instability began during the time of the Republic of Afghanistan (1973 ...
*Ali Maisam Nazary
Ali Maisam Nazary (Persian: علی میثم نظری, born 1990) is an Afghan politician; since August 2021 he is head of Foreign Relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF).
Education
Ali Nazary is an alumnus of the Unive ...
*Amrullah Saleh
Amrullah Saleh (Pashto/ prs, امرالله صالح, ; born 15 October 1972) is an Afghan politician who served as the first vice president of Afghanistan from February 2020 to August 2021, and acting interior minister from 2018 to 2019. He ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Massoud, Ahmad
1989 births
Living people
Afghan Tajik people
Afghan Muslims
Afghan politicians
Politicians of Panjshir Province
Alumni of King's College London
Alumni of City, University of London