Ahmed Shah Masood (احمد شاه مسعود
(c. 1953–September 9, 2001) (variant transliterations include Ahmad, Massoud, etc.) was a Kabul University engineering student turned Afghan military leader who played a leading role in driving the Soviet army out of Afghanistan, earning him the nickname Lion of Panjshir.
Massoud was an ethnic Tajik who was charismatic and respected by a faction of the Afghan population. His supporters call him "National Hero" but many people of Afghanistan regard him war criminal due to the fact his troops committed many crimes against people. In the early 1990s he became Defence Minister under President Burhanuddin Rabbani. Following the collapse of Rabbani's government and the rise of the Taliban regime, Massoud became the military leader of the Northern Alliance, a coalition of various armed Afghani opposition groups, in a prolonged civil war. As the Taliban established control over most of Afghanistan, Massoud's forces were increasingly forced into the mountainous areas of the north, where they controlled some 10% of Afghanistan's territory and perhaps 30% of its population until late 2001. Massoud was assassinated in September 2001.
Early life
Ahmad Shah Massoud was born January 9th 1953 in Jangalak, Panjshir Valley as son of police commander Dost Mohammad Khan who was a Basmachi and migrated from Tajikistan. At the age of five, he started grammar school at Bazarak and stayed there until second grade. Since his father was promoted to be police chief of Herat, he attended 3rd and 4th grade at the Mowaffaq School in Herat. He also got religious education at the so-called “Masjed-e-Jame" mosque in Herat. Later his father was moved to Kabul so he attended intermediate and senior grades at the Isteqlaal School in Kabul. Since his childhood, he was considered exceedingly talented; from 10th grade on his school acknowledged his being a particularly gifted student. His native tongue was Persian (Dari), but he was also fluent in French, Pashto, and Urdu. Furthermore, he had a good working knowledge of the Arabic language. Massoud: “For me, North, South, Persian, Pashto is absolutely meaningless. In our home, we can talk in every language.“
The Soviet War
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Massoud went to Nooristan and other areas where the war had just started. He wanted to find out about the Afghanis opinion regarding the war against the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. As soon as he was sure about their determination he departed with a group of 20 young men to Panjshir in 1979. Still not sufficiently armed Massoud and his troop marched on to Panjshir, Massoud’s home. Their enemy was a superpower and those who were weak or required help had to be protected; especially one’s own family.
It is said that Zolfiqar Ali Bhutto, prime minister of Pakistan armed Massoud and many other Afghan fundamentalist leaders to fight against Afghan government, he actually wanted to silece the issue of Pashtoonistan which was a big problem between the two counties.
Again, an armed insurrection in Panjshir took place, this time under Massoud’s leadership. The fight lasted 40 days, during which the whole Panjshir, Salang, and Bola Ghain were in open revolt against Kabul. After these 40 days Massoud's leg was injured and the troops under his command had no more weapons and ammunition. Despite 600 relief fighters from Nooristan, the government troops finally defeated them.
Massoud went back to Panjshir. On pondering the outcome of the fight, Massoud decided to wage guerrilla war. Massoud is credited with having achieved the control of terrain that was much more difficult to defend militarily and was under constant attack from the Soviet-Afghan Army. From that time on Massoud's name was inseparably connected with the Panjshir, he proved to be the resistance fighter in history against the Red Army. He became the Lion of Panjsher. Many people simply called him Amer Sahib (Commander) to express their affection as well as their respect.
In 1979, when his leg was severely wounded, Massoud’s resistance fighters were sieged by government troops, but he managed a narrow escape. In 1983 Soviet special troops had blocked the way out of the mountain tunnel near Malaspa in Panjshir. However, Massoud and his men managed a breakthrough and could slip away without attracting the Soviets attention.
1983 / 84 the years of truce between Massoud and the Red Army. The Soviets tried to murder Massoud employing two different tactics: First, they tried to lure him into one of their camps in Onaba - a part of Panjshir - with promises of talks and negotiations, and then have him arrested. A Tajik interpreter thwarted this try. The second strategy was to have him assassinated by his own men. The Russians had bribed a mujahid named Abdul-Qader Naachaar, who was in charge of the Muajhideen’s food. Naachaar's mission was to poison Massoud, however he was apprehended in time.
Dr. Mohammad Najibullah, later President and at that time chief of the Afghan government’s intelligence service, tried to murder Massoud with the help of a former classmate, Kamran. Dr. Najibullah knew Massoud since his youth in Kabul, he also knew how friendly, complaisant Massoud was, and how unceremoniously he welcomed friends. Kamran then was captain of the Afghan national soccer team. He went to Panjshir and spent a few days together with Massoud. Kamran finally understood Massoud’s reason to fight and handed over the specially muffled weapon he was given by the Afghan government to carry out the planned assassination. Kamran then took refuge in Germany and asked for political asylum.
One of most notable of Massoud's military tactics in the Panjshir was his tendency to perform shocking manoeuvres against the Red Army. While the Red Army always outnumbered Massoud's men, they could never inflict enough damage on his forces or establish a prolonged presence because they would usually be forced by their respective governments to retreat.
Massoud's most notable military victory was during the 6th assault of Panjshir by the government in 1984. The Panjshir remained one of the few regions in Afghanistan that was never under complete government control.
Civil War
Main article: Afghan Civil War
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Gulbuddin Hekmatyar placed Kabul under intensive rocket bombardment. Destruction went to the extent that daily up to 3,000 rockets were shot at Kabul, ten thousands civilians were murdered, and the city was nearly completely destroyed. After series of negotiations in Kabul and in Peshawar, arranged by the power players of the Afghan civil war - Pakistan, Saudi Arab and Iran - the warring factions failed to come to peace.
The population of Kabul was now besieged, starved out, bombed, had rockets fired at them and lived like in a cage full of armed criminals.
Massoud received millions of dollars from CIA in the 1980s and 1990s. According to Ghost Wars, by Steve Coll [1]:
"The CIA had pumped cash stipends as high as $200,000 a month to Massoud and his Islamic guerrilla organization, along with weapons and other supplies. Between 1989 and 1991, Schroen had personally delivered some of the cash. But the aid stopped in December 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved. The United States government decided it had no further interests in Afghanistan.
... Massoud wanted a large payment over and above his monthly CIA stipend. Schroen and the commander agreed on a one-time lump sum of $500,000 in cash. Schroen soon delivered the money by hand to Massoud's brother in Peshawar." Source
On 7 July 2005, The Human Rights Watch published a 133-page report, "Blood-Stained Hands: Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan’s Legacy of Impunity," about the atrocities committed in 1990s in Kabul, in the report Massoud is accused of planning and carrying on the Afshar Massacre where around one thousands people were killed, a part of the report says:
"Ahmad Shah Massoud is implicated in many of the abuses documented in this report, both those committed by Jamiat forces, and those committed by other militia forces under his command. It is nonetheless important that his role and that of his commanders be fully investigated." From [2]
According to The Guardian (November 16, 2001), on 11 February 1993, "Massoud and Sayyaf's forces entered the Hazara suburb of Afshar, killing - by local accounts - "up to 1,000 civilians", beheading old men, women, children and even their dogs, stuffing their bodies down the wells."
In March 1995 Shura-e-Nezar forces reportedly carried out raids on hundreds of civilian homes in Kabul's south-western district of Karte She, killing or beating whole families, looting property and raping Hazara women. One family, interviewed by a foreign journalist in Kabul, said President Rabbani's soldiers had told them they wanted to "drink the blood of the Hazaras". Medical workers in the area confirmed at the time at least six incidents of rape and two attempted rapes, but believed the actual number was much higher. Source: "International responsibility for human rights disaster", (Amnesty International, 1995)
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The Taliban
As Taliban took control of around 90% of Afghanistan, the warring factions had no choice but to form an alliance named as the 'Northern Alliance' because most factions were from the north of Afghanistan. The alliance consisted of warlords and tribal leaders as Haji Rahim, Commander Piram Qol, Haji Mohammad Mohaqeq, General Dostum, Qazi Kabir Marzban, Commander Ata Mohammad and General Malek. From the east were Haji Abdul Qadir, Commander Hazrat Ali, Commander Jaan Daad Khan and Abdullah Wahedi. From the northeast areas, Commander Qatrah and Commander Najmuddin participated. From the southern provinces, there were Commander Qari Baba, Noorzai, and Hotak. From the western and southwest provinces came General Ismail Khan, Doctor Ibrahim, and Fazlkarim Aimaq. From central Afghanistan Commander Anwari, Said Hussein Aalemi Balkhi, Said Mustafa Kazemi, Akbari, Mohammad Ali Jawed, Karim Khaili, Commander Sher Alam, and Abdur Rassul Sayyaf were members of this union. The alliance consisted of members from almost all regions of Afghanistan.
Like the Soviet Union before them, the Taliban also failed in getting over Massoud or entering the Panjshir Valley. From 1979 up until 2001 the Panjshir Valley was never conquered.
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Death
Massoud was the victim of a suicide attack which occurred at Khvajeh Ba Odin on September 9, 2001, two days before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the United States, a timing considered significant by some commentators who believe Osama bin Laden ordered the assassination to ensure he would have the Taliban's protection and cooperation in Afghanistan. The attackers were two Arabs who claimed to be Belgians originally from Morocco. However their passports turned out to be stolen. According to some accounts they were posing as journalists, perhaps intending to attack several Northern Alliance council members simultaneously.
They set off a bomb in either a video camera or a belt worn by one of the attackers. It appears that Massoud died within 30 minutes, although his death was denied until an official announcement that was made on September 13. The explosion also killed Mohammed Asim Suhail, a Northern Alliance official, while Mohammad Fahim Dashty and Massoud Khalili were injured. One of the attackers was killed by the explosion and the other was shot while trying to escape.
The French secret service revealed October 16, 2003 that the camera used by Massoud's assassins had been stolen in December 2000 in Grenoble, France from a photojournalist, Jean-Pierre Vincendet, who was then working on a story on that city's Christmas store window displays. By tracing the serial number that appeared in the camera, the FBI was able to determine Vincendet as the original owner. The French secret service and the FBI then began working on tracing the route that the camera took between the time it was taken from Vincendet and the Massoud assassination.
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After death
In 2001, the Afghan Interim Government under president Hamid Karzai awarded him the title of "Hero of the Afghan Nation".
Massoud is the subject of Ken Follett's Lie Down With Lions, a novel about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Many documentaries, books and movies have been made about Ahmad Shah Massoud.
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