Taliban’s ideologies are alien to Afghanistan: Ahmad Massoud

At 33, Ahmad Massoud’s bears the likeness of his father, albeit not the ruggedness of the ‘Lion of Panjshir’, Ahmad Shah Massoud, who famously fought the Taliban in the 1990s, and was killed by the Al-Qaeda just two days before the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. Massoud, his father’s only son, went to school in Iran, attended university in the U.K., and returned to Kabul to joined Afghan politics in 2019. But in 2021, after the fall of Kabul, he set up the National Resistance Front (NRF) that battles Taliban fighters from its small foothold in the Panjshir Valley and the mountains between Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

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The Taliban has been in power for more than 16 months, and Afghanistan seems to have gone back full circle to 1996, with new religious restrictions by the militant group, girls kept out of secondary school, and daily atrocities against men and women, including public floggings. Unlike its past rule, however, the Taliban ‘interim’ government has engaged with the world, and at least 15 countries, including India, have diplomatic missions in Kabul. At a conference in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the first of its kind between Afghan leaders in exile, former Afghan officials, and high-level U.S. and E.U. diplomats, Massoud walked into the room and was greeted with a standing ovation. In this interview with  The Hindu, Massoud speaks about how the world needs to recognise unity-building among anti-Taliban forces and calls on India — that had historically helped these groups — to revive its support to them.

14 months after the fall of Kabul, where are the resistance forces? How much does the NRF control inside Afghanistan? And what kind of support are you receiving from the world?

The NRF started last year as a result of a direct confrontation with the Taliban, its military takeover of power in Kabul, its atrocities across Afghanistan, and Taliban failing to recognise the importance of dialogue and negotiation. The NRF came into existence to fight for Afghanistan’s freedom, for justice and for Afghanistan’s multicultural state system and belief, given that the Taliban wants to destroy all other identities in Afghanistan. When we established the NRF it was very small, and had no help from outside. However, our struggle isn’t conditioned on receiving funds or support from the outside world. It is a moral obligation towards our homeland, to do whatever we can to bring justice and freedom to it once again. It started last year in the Panjshir Valley, the last place still liberated [from Taliban]. And now we have spread to Badakhshan, Takhar, Samangan, and Nuristan where we liberated one district a few months ago, and Bamyan. So we have spread to all these regions in less than a year and from about 600 resistance forces last year, we now have about 5,000 forces. Are we controlling any central district or provinces? No, because that is not our strategy. Just like the Taliban that never controlled a district or a province until last year: it was always holding the outskirts. We understand that we could capture a district or province at this time, but we won’t be able to hold on to it, because of the lack of resources.

Yet, the Taliban has strengthened its hold: at least 10 countries, including India, have diplomatic missions in Kabul. We see leaders travelling to Kabul to meet with them. And anti-Taliban forces are too divided to pose a challenge…

Absolutely not. Our history shows that capturing power is easy, but holding on to it is not. The Taliban’s ideologies are alien to Afghanistan, but they have held on to power for one year due to various factors. One is that, unfortunately the world, including India, put all of their [hopes] on the Republic at that time, and refused to invest in and understand how to support other Afghan [groups] to withstand the brutality of the Taliban. And as far as the Taliban goes, their leader [Haibatullah Akhundzada] used to be able to travel, but not any more.

This conference in Dushanbe, over the past few days, shows that hopes that an engagement with the Taliban would benefit the people of Afghanistan have failed. We were waiting for this moment. It is necessary for [other countries] to realise that they won’t achieve anything solely by engaging with Taliban. Until there is no pressure [Taliban] will not compromise. The opponents of the Taliban are not divided. The majority of those at the Dushanbe conference are speaking of their distrust of the Taliban, unhappiness about the situation and their demand for change. This is the opposition to Taliban, which includes all traditional leaders: from Abdul Rashid Dostum to Atta Muhammad Noor and others. But it also includes the Afghan diaspora in exile, the youth, women and others.

We are united and it is time for the world to unite when it comes to Afghanistan. Apart from the historical bond between the people of Afghanistan and the people of India, and the bond shared with my father and Burhanuddin Rabbani during the last resistance [1996-2001] in establishing a free, just and safe Afghanistan, India must also participate in this. Pragmatism, I believe, may show tactical results in the short term with respect to engaging with the Taliban; but strategically, in the long term, it would only strengthen the Taliban’s terrorist ideology

In comparison to 1996, India is not helping the resistance this time, nor is the government willing to give Afghans visas to travel, although it has sent aid for the Afghan people. Have you tried to speak to India to change this?

I understand India’s hesitation over visas, as we know that the Taliban has been giving citizenship and passports to foreign terrorists. So, it will be very hard for India to distinguish and to know which passport holder is a foreign terrorist or a student. They were caught by surprise after the withdrawal of the U.S. from Afghanistan. Prior to [Ghani government’s] collapse for example, I explained to our Indian friends what I expected would happen, to make them realise that the situation was very fragile, and [the government] would collapse sooner or later. But unfortunately, at that time, like many countries they were blind to it, or felt the Republic would not fall apart this quickly. Unfortunately, the Taliban used that opportunity for the Doha conference peace talks. So many countries thought that preparation for resistance or preparation for preventing the fall of the Afghan government is not necessary because peace will happen [at Doha]. But the Taliban has always abused the opportunity for peace to fuel their war machine. India and many other countries hoped the Taliban has changed, that they are Taliban 2.0. But it is clear now, they have not changed, and they’re pushing their dogmatic ideology on the people.

How would you like India to progress from here? It once maintained an airbase and a hospital here in Tajikistan, where your father was treated: should it revive those investments?

This is a decision for India to make. But given the historical context, the strategic threats that emanate from Afghanistan, with intelligence reports we receive that the security situation in Kashmir has become worse [India must pay more attention to the situation]. Pakistan’s promise of a ‘tolerant’ Taliban that would provide the region safety and security was completely false. And we all know that a lot of international terrorist groups are finding Afghanistan a safe haven for training camps. It’s been a year-and-a-half, and we have seen that not only have they made no good changes, but shown their extremist face… stripping woman of their rights, increasing atrocities day by day.

The India that I know does not just work on pragmatism. India always carries the torch of values — from Bollywood films to Indian literature, to the words of Gandhi and Nehru — India has always held an ideology of democracy, peace, freedom, justice, and pluralism. India was a symbol of that: the biggest democracy in the world. And now to see that India is falling into a phase of so-called pragmatism is [very sad]. The India that we know and love is not like that. So, therefore, I believe, besides security concerns that India has, it must play a big role in helping the people of Afghanistan, so they can live a dignified life, and have a government that truly represents them.

As your father’s son, you had many options ahead of you. Why did you choose this path of resistance?

[Laughs] Why did Gandhi choose to fight? He could have lived in London, why did he leave? Why did Nehru choose the same thing? Ahmad Shah Massoud is my role model, he could have chosen otherwise. Prophet Muhammad, my prophet, my role model, who was the most respected man in the [Arabian peninsula], why did he choose to tell people they were wrong, and to stop brutality? Sometimes the right path, it’s the hardest. I grew up in London, and I could have had a comfortable life, I could have worked at a university. And I could follow my personal dream to be an astronomer. Why, because when I look at the eyes of the girls and boys and see their suffering, I know they deserve much better than this. It’s not their fault. Afghanistan has always been cursed with this geography and being positioned in the rivalry between Russia and the British empire during the Great Game. Then it was between Russia and the U.S., and now it is between China and the U.S. These wars have been forced upon us. But we deserve a dignified life. The people deserve a different path.

And if you give the people this alternative to the Taliban, which at the moment doesn’t look like it has come together, would you lead it?

No. I just want to see my country and people with hope and happiness in their eyes and my job is done. We have amazing, talented young girls and boys who can lead this country into the future and I would be honoured to support them. I just want to see my country free. I love democracy and elections because the people must decide.

During this period, have you considered coming to India?

Well, I’m open, but of course we have an expression in Farsi: that no one likes a guest who is uninvited. I’ve been to India many many times and I admire Indian culture, its values and the people, who are amazing.