Thursday, August 19, 2021
Washington should help
Taliban opponent Massoud asks for weapons
With the conquest of Kabul, the Taliban took power in Afghanistan. But in the Pandjir Valley, not far from the capital, new resistance is forming. The son of a legendary opponent of the Taliban is ready for battle. He asks the USA for arms deliveries for the impending conflict.
The son of a symbolic figure of the Afghan fight against the Taliban has asked the US for support for his resistance group in the fight against the Islamists. Ahmad Massoud, son of the former warlord Ahmad Shah Massoud, wrote in one Guest Post in the Washington Post that he was ready to “follow in my father’s footsteps”. He had the necessary strength for an effective resistance, but needed “more weapons, more ammunition and more supplies”.
It is located in the Punjir Valley northeast of Kabul, which was considered a stronghold of resistance against the Taliban in the 1990s and never fell under the control of the Islamists. His “mujahideen fighters” are “ready to take on the Taliban again,” said Massoud.
They were joined by former members of the Afghan armed forces who were “disgusted by the surrender of their commanders”. Online networks showed pictures of Massoud with the country’s former vice president, Amrullah Saleh, who are apparently planning a guerrilla movement against the Taliban.
Ahmad Massoud’s father fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and then fought the Taliban from 1996 to 2001. On September 9, 2001, he was killed by two suicide bombers from the Al-Qaeda terrorist network – two days before the attacks in the United States that led to the international military operation in Afghanistan.
According to Massoud, the Taliban pose a threat beyond the country’s borders. Under their control, “Afghanistan will undoubtedly become a center of radical Islamic terrorism”. His fighters are prepared for the coming conflict, but need US support.
During their rapid conquest of the country, the Taliban captured a huge supply of military equipment from the Afghan army, mostly provided by the United States. The Islamists show assault rifles and sniper rifles as well as armored Humvee vehicles in online media. In his contribution, Massoud asked the US to continue to support the “cause of freedom” and not to leave the Afghans to the Taliban. “You are our last hope,” he wrote.
.