(19-Sep-01) For many Afghans living under the repressive Taliban militia regime - which has chosen to keep the masses in the dark ages by restricting their basic human rights - September 11, 2001 will be remembered less for what Osama’s terrorist network inflicted upon the U.S., but for the assassination of a legendary Afghan personality two days earlier by Osama’s followers. In solidarity with our Afghan brethren who neither support the Pakistani and Arab-backed Taliban rule nor any acts of terrorism -- over 99.8 percent of the population in Afghanistan - the Western Afghan communities strongly and categorically condemn the assassination of the Vice President and Defense Minister of the recognized government of Afghanistan, Commander Ahmad Shah Masood, by two Arab suicide bombers.

The son of an army officer, Masood was born in the year 1953. He was educated in the French Lycee Istiqlaal in Kabul during the 1960’s and later attended college until deciding to leave, dissatisfied with the foreign manipulations of the Daoud regime - mainly by the USSR. After a stint and training in Pakistan, Masood retreated to the Panjshir Valley from where he would fight for independence, the rights of his ethnic minority, and Islam for the following two and a half decades. He rose to prominence during the occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Army in the 1980’s. While the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and western powers poured billions into the coffers of the ISI staffers and Peshawar-based Mujahedin factions - who fought one another as often as they rose against the Soviets - Masood received neither monetary nor political support from Pakistan or the U.S.

During the decade of Soviet occupation, Masood’s small faction engaged in ten fierce battles against advancing communist-Afghan and Soviet infantry battalions that were backed by powerful mechanized brigades and air assault units. Each time, the communists suffered great losses in manpower, machinery and morale at the hands of Masood’s outnumbered men. Soon after, Panjshir became known as the graveyard of Soviet tanks and Masood as the “Lion of Panjshir”. In 1989, upon the retreat of the last Soviet trooper from Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal wrote a profile of Masood calling him “the Afghan who won the Cold War. Commander Masood rode triumphantly on a Tank into Kabul in 1992 after having toppled the government of Najibullah whom he allowed to take refuge in the safety of the United Nations compound in Kabul.

Over the next four years, Masood had neither the luxury of time nor international support to form a central government or banking system. The intra-factional fighting funded by Pakistani ISI destroyed Kabul. Loose controls, revenge, and bloody assassinations had left its effect on the masses, including Masood’s men. His commanders were alleged to have carried out massacres of the Hazara minority and were said to have taken part in the looting of residences, including the prestigious Kabul Museum. The chaos surrounding Kabul during Masood’s tenure included rockets fired by his long-time foe, Gulbudin Hekmatyar, who was backed by Pakistan. In 1996, unable to hold together his loose coalition against the overwhelming size of the advancing Taliban militia, and unwilling to inflict further destruction by battling for Kabul, Masood retreated to the Hindo Kush. From there, he would continue to defend Afghanistan against the oppressive Taliban militia, which despite international sanctions, received military, logistical, manpower, political, and moral support from Pakistan and Arab outcasts.

Masood fought for five more years without ceding total control of Afghanistan to the militia. He held together a loose coalition of commanders from diverse Afghan ethnicities, including Abdel Qadir, and Commander Ismael Khan who were well known for their successes against the Soviets. In April of 2001, after the Taliban’s demolition of the Bamian Buddhas, France invited Masood as a gesture of political support for his cause. While addressing a roomful of journalists in Paris, Masood warned the U.S. of greater acts of terrorism that could threaten the civilized nations and declared that it must stop Pakistan from its support of the Taliban. Masood’s comments were not given appropriate weight, as one state department official was quoted as saying “Masood is too independent.”

On September 9, 2001, two days prior to the tragedy in New York City, Masood granted permission for an interview by a team of Arab journalists, one from Tunisia and the other from Morocco. Both journalists held Belgian passports with several Pakistani visa stamps, and “clean” credentials. The journalists had been in the area controlled by the United Front for three weeks on the pretext of preparing a documentary to gain support in the Arab World for the struggle of the United Front against terrorism. No one realized that the journalists came with intentions to assasinate Massoud. According to the most recent account of the attack on Massoud, the hidden bomb inside the video camera exploded, instantly killing the video man and Masood’s spokesperson, Mr. Suhail. Masood’s men gunned down the second assassin. Commander Masood himself, and the Afghan ambassador to India, Masood Khalili, received severe injuries, including shrapnel wounds to their heads. Two days later, on September 11, 2001, terrorists carried out attacks with a similar lever of planning and sophistication against the United States, while Massoud laid unconcious from his wounds. Masood died from his injuries on September 15, 2001, and was buried in his native Panjshir Valley in a funeral attended by tens of thousands of his followers who proclaimed him “an Afghan hero”. Leaders from around the world sent condolences, referring to Masood as “a great Afghan legend,” “a freedom loving leader,” and “a true Afghan.

The Afghan communities inside and outside Afghanistan have been disturbed, are in deep sadness, and are mourning the assassination of a man they believed personified freedom and patriotism. Afghans of all backgrounds - representing various Afghan organizations, activists, leaders, and think tanks, including the Insittute for Afghanistan Studies - have voiced strong protest against this act of terrorism, one carried out by foreign nationals against an Afghan leader on Afghan soil. While the Afghan community mourned Masood’s loss, many Americans were also to fall victim to acts of terrorism subsequent to the commander’s assassination. The assassination of Mr.Massoud was only one of many similar acts against innocent Afghan civilians, committed in the name of the Taliban, by Pakistan and Osama’s terrorist network. While condemning terrorism, the Institute for Afghanistan Studies pledges support to the United States and all freedom-loving nations in the fight against terrorism, and bringing its perpetuators to justice.