Panjshir resistance: Mujahideen fighters and I ready to take on Taliban, says front leader Ahmad Massoud

New Delhi: After the Taliban took over the Afghan nation, Ahmad Massoud, leader of National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, said he is “ready to follow” his father’s footsteps and launch a resistance from Panjshir against the Taliban. 

In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, Massoud wrote, “I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father’s footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban. We have stores of ammunition and arms that we have patiently collected since my father’s time, because we knew this day might come.”

Massoud explained how despite him having soldiers from the Afghan army and weapons to fight, it will not be enough to fight the Taliban. 

Appealing to the West for more weapons, ammunition and supplies for their armed struggle to oust the Taliban, Massoud said, “We also have the weapons carried by the Afghans who, over the past 72 hours, have responded to my appeal to join the resistance in Panjshir.

He told, "Former members of the Afghan Special Forces have also joined our struggle.”

Further, he added, “But that is not enough. If Taliban warlords launch an assault, they will of course face staunch resistance from us. The flag of the National Resistance Front will fly over every position that they attempt to take, as the National United Front flag flew 20 years ago. Yet we know that our military forces and logistics will not be sufficient. They will be rapidly depleted unless our friends in the West can find a way to supply us without delay.”

Massoud wrote in the Washington Post that the Taliban is not only the problem of Afghanistan alone. He asserted that he and his “mujahideen fighters” will keep the fight alive and “defend Panjshir as the last bastion of Afghan freedom.”

Massoud is the son of Ahmed Shah Masood, who fought against the Taliban in the past and was killed on September 9, 2001 by assassins from al-Qaeda.

As per a Reuters report, the Afghan ambassador to Tajikistan declined Taliban rule and said Panjshir province, north of Kabul, would serve as a stronghold for resistance led by self-proclaimed acting president Amrullah Saleh.

“I cannot say that the Taliban have won the war. No, it was just Dr Ashraf Ghani who gave up power after treacherous talks with the Taliban," he told Reuters in an interview.

"And only Panjshir resists, led by Vice President Amrullah Saleh," he said, adding, "Panjshir stands strong against anyone who wants to enslave people."