In early 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud created a coalition of countries supporting the anti-Taliban resistance and the fight against terrorism, including Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and India, which was never officially announced.
Author: Muhammad Fahim Dashti, writer and journalist (Afghanistan)
Brief memo
When the representatives of the Shaheed Ahmad Shah Masood Foundation shared with me their intention to publish the biography of the country's National Hero, I realized that preparing this biography would not be easy. The life of a man who devoted more than half of his life to the fight against aggressor forces for the preservation of the freedom and independence of his country is partly connected with the events of those years and is full of brilliant achievements, fast and intense ups, and downs. Collecting it in a frame called “Autobiography”, on the one hand, is not an easy task, but on the other, it becomes “the equivalent of seventy manns (1 mann = 16,38 kg - Sangar) of paper” (Mawlawi Rumi).
Therefore, due to lack of time, friends decided to prepare and print a short biography of Amir Sahib until God gives us the opportunity to write a complete biography of this indispensable leader in the history of Afghanistan.
Mohammad Fahim Dashti
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
of Ahmad Shah Massoud,
National Hero of Afghanistan
(Sunbula 11/September 2, 1332 (1953) - Sunbula 18/September 1380 (2001)
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
Ahmad Shah Massoud nicknamed the Lion of Panjshir and the winner of the Cold War, the National Hero of Afghanistan, was born on Shahrivar 11, 1332, which corresponds to September 2, 1953, in the village of Jangalak in the Panjshir Valley in military family.
Ahmad Shah Masood's father, Colonel Dost Mohammad Khan, was an army officer during the reign of Muhammad Zahershah, and his grandfather, Yahya Khan, was one of the elders and influential people of the Panjshir province.
Colonel Dost Muhammad Khan, in addition to serving in various positions in the Afghan Army, also served for some time in the Ministry of Interior. During his service, Ahmad Shah Masood's father served in various provinces, including Kabul, Herat, Ghazni, Nangarhar, Badakhshan, and Baghlan, causing his family to travel from one province to another constantly.
Dost Mohammad Khan was married three times. When his first wife died, he married Bibi Khurshed, the daughter of one of the noble families of Panjshir. Ahmad Shah Masood was the third child from his second wife, or in fact the fifth child in the family. At the age of six, Ahmad Shah Masood entered the Bazarak School, located one and a half kilometers from his father's village, but he soon came to Kabul with his family and spent the rest of his first year at the Shah Dushamshira School in Kabul.
After his father's appointment as Commander of the Gendarmerie and Herat Provincial Police, Ahmad Shah Massoud went to Herat with his family. He studied from the second to fourth grade at Ali Muwaffaq High School in Herat. During these years, his father also helped him learn religious sciences from the religious scholars of Herat.
After completing his fourth grade, he returned to Kabul with his family and enrolled in Kabul Istiqlal High School. The Istiqlal secondary school was one of the three best schools in Afghanistan at that time, created with the help of France.
UNIVERSITY AND THE BEGINNING OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY
Ahmad Shah Masood, despite his interest in pursuing higher education in the military field and joining the army, with the support of his father and after passing the entrance exam, he entered the Polytechnic Institute (specializing in engineering), which was later renamed the Polytechnic University.
It was while studying at the university that he met activists of the Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, including its leader Habib al-Rahman. And because of his desire for religious thoughts, he became a member of the Muslim Youth Organization. This organization was actually the student wing of the Islamic Movement.
The Islamic Movement was under pressure from the newly established Republic of Muhammad Daoud, resulting in a number of activists and leaders of the movement being arrested or killed. Ahmad Shah Massoud, like many leaders and activists of the Islamic Movement, spent some time inside the country in secret and eventually left the country.
He attended a short military training course in Peshawar and returned to his native Panjshir with a small group of friends and associates. On January 29, 1354, as part of the coup d'etat that was to be carried out by the Islamic movement, he captured Panjshir government institutions, including the district center (at that time Panjshir was a district in the administrative structure of Afghanistan) and two alakadari (village councils) of the district. But because the coup plan was not implemented in other parts of the country, he was forced to retreat to the highest parts of the valley and from there returned to Pakistan.
Amir Sahib considered the main reason for his failure in this military operation to be the lack of popular support for the group under his command. At that time, people had not yet reached a level of social consciousness that allowed them to support revolutionary movements. Exactly four years after this incident, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan came to power in Afghanistan. Only then, due to the rejection of the communist views of the new regime, did the people of Panjshir support and welcome Amir Sahib and his friends.
In 1357 (1979), the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which was a union of two communist movements - Khalq and Parcham, during a military coup, killed the country's president, Mohammad Daoud, and all members of his family and seized power. After this coup at the end of Sawr 1358 (May 1980), Ahmad Shah Masud, at the head of a small group of Mujahideen, left Peshawar and returned to Panjshir through the provinces of Nuristan to create resistance and the core of jihad.
JIHAD AND ARMED STRUGGLE
From 1358 to 1361 (1979-1983), when the Red Army agreed to sign a one-year ceasefire agreement with the Mujahideen of Panjshir, at least five attacks by the communist government and the Red Army in Panjshir were thwarted. It was during this period that the name of Ahmad Shah Massoud first became known as a guerrilla commander in the world and as a powerful mujahideen commander in Afghanistan. It was during these years that Ahmad Shah Massoud became known among the Mujahideen and the people of Panjshir as "Amir Sahib".
The signing of a ceasefire agreement with Ahmad Shah Massoud marked the first direct contact between the Soviets and one of the Mujahideen commanders in Afghanistan, which was considered a major achievement of Mujahideen diplomacy. Taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the ceasefire, Ahmad Shah Massoud expanded the mujahideen fronts under his command in the valleys around Panjshir, including Salang (which overlooks the critical highway connecting northern Afghanistan with the city of Kabul), Andarab, Farkhar, and Warsaj.
It was during this period that Ahmad Shah Massoud laid the foundation of a council that was later called Shuroi Nazzor (Supervisory Council). His goal in creating Shuroi Nazzor was to resolve internal disagreements between the commanders of various parties and organizations of the Mujahideen and create coordination between these forces.
The first meeting of Shuroi Nazzor was held with the participation of the majority of the commanders of the provinces of Badakhshan, Balkh, Samangan, Takhar, Kunduz, Baghlan, Parwan, and Kapisa on 15 Qavs 1362 (6 December 1983) in an area called Sharshar, which is a remote point in the Ishkemesh district of Baghlan province.
The truce between the Red Army and Ahmad Shah Massoud lasted more than a year. But in the end, the Red Army planned and carried out its largest and most powerful operation since its presence in Afghanistan in Panjshir. This operation, which heavily involved Warsaw Pact forces, made extensive use of fighter aircraft and special forces parachuting throughout the Panjshir Valley. The main goal of this big operation was to destroy the forces of Ahmad Shah Massoud and kill him. However, Massoud learned of this operation the day before the invasion began and ordered all residents of Panjshir and his troops to leave the valley.
As thousands of Soviet paratroopers and their allies descend on the villages, mountains, and passes of Panjshir, they encounter an uninhabited valley that drives them into a frenzy. The Russians, with complete brutality, attack the houses and fields of the villagers, burning and destroying them all. During this attack, some residents of Panjshir, who were unable to leave the valley due to old age or illness, were killed by Red Army soldiers.
Between 1363 and 1367 (1984-1988) no large-scale war occurred between the forces of Ahmad Shah Massoud and the Russians, and the valley was practically under the control of the Mujahideen. During these years, using the newly created opportunities within Shuroi Nazzor, Ahmad Shah Massoud developed and implemented plans for the liberation of territories in the north of the Hindu Kush (mainly the provinces of Takhar, Baghlan, and parts of Badakhshan and Kunduz).
It was during this period that the troops of Ahmad Shah Massoud, possessing high military training, good order, and discipline, practically took the lead in the war in the entire north-eastern region of Afghanistan, which begins from the north of Kabul in the area known as Kuhdoman and provinces such as Parwan, Kapisa, including Panjshir, Baghlan, Kunduz, Takhar, and Badakhshan. Massoud now, in addition to being the virtually undisputed commander in eight provinces of the country, with no faction able to oppose him, has allies throughout Afghanistan among powerful mujahideen commanders from various parties and organizations, whose sphere of influence extends from the north of Afghanistan to expanding central, western, eastern and partially southern regions of the country.
In 1366, at the fourth meeting of Shuroi Nazzor, it was decided to expand the area of activity of this council to the eastern provinces of Laghman, Nuristan, and Nangarhar.
After the departure of the Red Army in Dalw 1367 (February 1989), Ahmad Shah Massoud, given the weakness of the Afghan government at that time, launched attacks to capture government garrisons in northern Afghanistan. The conquest of the garrisons of Kalafgan, Nahrin, Karan, and Manjan, Burqa and the final liberation of the city of Taliqan and the capture of the garrison of Hajja Ghar, which was the largest base of Dr. Najibullah's government troops in the north and on the border with the Soviet Union, was the result of his plans. With the capture of the garrison of the Khaja Gar district, the Soviet land found itself practically in the crosshairs of the forces of Shuroi Nazzor, which was considered a great strategic success for the Mujahideen.
With the gradual weakening of Dr. Najibullah's government and the creation of tension between the Khalq and Parcham factions in that government, the stage was set for its downfall. A number of the most prominent military generals and political figures of Najibullah's government contacted Ahmad Shah Massoud and announced their cooperation.
Shuroi Nazzor, led by Ahmad Shah Masud, held its seventh meeting in Farhar at the beginning of Sawr 1370 (April 1991) to discuss the reasons for the fall of the Kabul government. Following the separation of General Dostum's militia from the military structure of Dr. Najibullah's government and the joining of a number of his generals to Hekmatyar's Islamic Party, Ahmad Shah Massoud seized the opportunity. He quickly united his forces, which had been gathering around Kabul for months, and ordered them to enter the capital. His goal was to prevent the chaos caused by the collapse of the government in Kabul.
Troops loyal to Ahmad Shah Massoud entered Kabul at dawn on Saur 8, 1371 (April 28, 1992). That day, thousands of Kabul residents gathered to greet these forces on the main road that runs from the north to the city center.
GOVERNMENT OF THE MUJAHIDIN
From the beginning of the Mujahideen interim government until a year after that (Savr 1372 – April 1993), Ahmad Shah Massoud was the Minister of Defense of the Mujahideen government. Hekmatyar was the main opponent of the Mujahideen government. He set a condition for reconciliation, namely, he demanded that either Ahmad Shah Massoud resign as Minister of Defense or Burhanuddin Rabbani as head of state. Ahmad Shah Massoud left the post of Minister of Defense so that Hekmatyar would not have a reason to continue the war against the government and rocket attacks on the city of Kabul.
From this time until the fall of the Mujahideen government at the hands of the Taliban on the 6th Mizan 1375 (26 September 1996), Ahmad Shah Massoud, despite being responsible for the overall command of the government's armed forces, did not have an official position. But it was he and his forces that were the main factor and stronghold for preserving the Mujahideen government and protecting it from rival groups.
Ahmad Shah Massoud tried to form an inclusive government and prevent the continuation of conflict between the various mujahideen factions. He convinced Burhanuddin Rabbani, the head of state, to hand over power to the members of the Shuroi Ahli Hallu Aqd (Council of Ulema, which will appoint the new government) at a summit in Herat (Saraton 1373 - June 1994).
Dr. Yusuf, the first Prime Minister of the Decade of Democracy (the last ten years of Mohammed Zahir Shah's reign), was one of the participants in this meeting. Ahmad Shah Massoud wanted to put him at the helm of power because he considered him an impartial and trustworthy figure who could provide the basis for mutual understanding in society and the creation of a new national government. However, due to the opposition of Burhanuddin Rabbani and Mohammad Ismail Khan, who was called the Emir of the South-West region in those years, this plan of Ahmad Shah Massoud failed.
YEARS OF RESISTANCE AND MARTYRDOM
With the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on the 6th Mizan 1375 (September 26, 1996), Ahmad Shah Massoud withdrew his troops to his historical base in the Panjshir Valley and from there planned to resist the Taliban. From 1375 to 1378 (1996-1999), the bases of other military-political groups in the north and center of Afghanistan were defeated by the Taliban. The only forces remaining against them were those under the command of Ahmad Shah Massoud, who were repeatedly subjected to large-scale, unprecedented, but unsuccessful attacks by the Taliban.
From the beginning of 1379 (2000), Ahmad Shah Massoud changed the tactics of resistance against the Taliban from defensive to offensive, inviting jihad leaders and commanders and laying the groundwork for the creation of new fronts against the Taliban. In late 1379 (early 2001), Ahmad Shah Massoud finally convinced a number of countries in the region to support the Resistance Front, and the result of these efforts was the formation of a coalition of countries supporting the resistance against the Taliban and international terrorism. It included Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and India. But this coalition never officially declared its existence.
On Hamal 16, 1380 (April 5, 2001), Ahmad Shah Massoud, at the head of a delegation of ethnic leaders and commanders of the Afghan resistance, went to France and Belgium at the invitation of the European Union and appeared before the whole world for the first time as a political leader. Until this time, Ahmad Shah Massoud's military achievements as a military leader were the basis of his recognition in the world. However, his clear stance on terrorism, his clear vision for the future of Afghanistan, the region, and the world, and his providing sound solutions to end violence and conflict in Afghanistan during numerous meetings in France and Belgium presented him in a different light, namely as a powerful political leader.
Ahmad Shah Massoud was martyred on Sunbula 18, 1380 (September 9, 2001). Two suicide bombers, Arabs by origin and members of Al-Qaeda posing as journalists during an interview detonated a homemade bomb that was in the video camera. The suicide attack took place at the Resistance Front Security Directorate in the Hajja Bahauddin district of Takhar province. This was the first suicide bombing in Afghan history.
Ahmad Shah Masood was buried on Sunday, Sunbula 25, 1380 (September 16, 2001), on Saricha Hill, which was later named Solori Shahado Hill, in the Panjshir Valley.
Ahmad Shah Masood left one son and four daughters.
