The Afghan Who Won’t Surrender to the Taliban Ahmad Massoud leads the resistance in the province of Panjshir. Can he and his fighters hold out? By Bernard-Henri Lévy
Ahmad Massoud is in a remote base in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province. He is the son and successor to the legendary commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, a resistance leader against both the Soviets and the Taliban until the latter assassinated him on Sept. 9, 2001.
As Kabul fell to the Taliban again, the young Mr. Massoud issued a resounding call for resistance. “We Afghans find ourselves in the situation of Europe in 1940,” he said on Aug. 16. “Except in Panjshir, the debacle is near total, and the spirit of collaboration with the Taliban is spreading among the vanquished, who lost this war by their own failings. Only we remain standing. And we will never yield.”
I visited Mr. Massoud in Panjshir last year and spoke with him by phone on Saturday. His voice was clear and resonant but choppy. I asked about rumors circulating in Europe and the U.S. that he was preparing to give up. “That’s propaganda,” he says. “Apparently, there are defeatists among you who mistake their wishes for realities. So, no. Make this known: There is no question of giving up the fight. Here in Panjshir, our resistance is just beginning.”
What about Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani’s claims that Mr. Massoud was “withdrawing?” “I repeat that this is disinformation. We will never accept an imposed peace, and we will resist until we achieve justice and freedom. . . . No surrender, of course. I would prefer to die than to give up. I am the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud. Surrender is not in my dictionary.”
Mr. Massoud may seem an unlikely warrior. “I love three things in this world,” he said last year: “books, gardens and the astronomy I learned . . . at King’s College London, which instilled in me the habit of looking each night at the sky and its constellations.” But he is determined to follow the example of his father, who taught him, in the young Mr. Massoud’s words, that “what makes a people strong, above and beyond any imbalance of forces, is the spirit of resistance. . . . You must believe with all your heart in your mission. And for me that mission is irrevocable, whatever the price. My father had that strength inside him. He never had any doubt. I will do my utmost to be worthy of his example, his resolve and his quiet courage.”
Rumors have also circulated that he has been talking with the Taliban, and he hints that these are true. “Talking is one thing,” he says. “There’s no harm in talking. In every war, you talk. My father always spoke with his enemies. Always. Even when the conflict was at its height. But giving up is another thing altogether. And I repeat that there is no question in the hearts of my commanders or myself of giving up.”
So why talk? “Because, as any human being, I prefer peace over war, and if the Taliban were willing to solve Afghanistan’s underlying problems and create a just system that guarantees the rights and freedoms of all citizens, then I would accept those terms and we would live in a peaceful Afghanistan. But, once again, . . . I will never accept an imposed peace for the sake of stability. Freedom and rights are much more important for us than being in a prison with stability.”
He also takes inspiration from Allied leaders in World War II. His father taught him to admire Charles de Gaulle. “At Sandhurst military academy, where I studied, I also read Churchill’s memoirs. At the same time as de Gaulle, he told the British people: ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat; we will never surrender.’ I don’t yet know what our struggle holds in store, and I will not presume to compare us to those glorious examples. But I tell you that they are present in me and inspire the greatest respect.”
Does he fear an assault by the Taliban? “The Taliban is fearsome, for sure. They have laid claim to stocks of American weapons. And I’ll never forget the historic error of those from whom I requested arms a week before the fall of Kabul. They turned me down. And those weapons, artillery, helicopters, tanks, delivered by America, are now in the hands of the Taliban. But the mountains of Panjshir have a long tradition of resistance. Neither the pre-2001 Taliban nor the Soviets before them have succeeded in breaking into our sanctuary. I believe the same will be true today.”
He says Afghans are answering his call to resistance. “Thousands of people are joining us here. There are activists, intellectuals, politicians, officers of the ANSF”—the Afghan National Security Forces. “They’re coming in on foot, on horseback, on motorbikes, in private cars, running serious risks to get to us. They’re battle-hardened. Some are former members of the Afghan special forces. Real assets for our movement.”
Mr. Massoud’s fate is uncertain. I was unable to reach him on Monday. Taliban units have been arriving at the mouths of the valleys of Panjshir, according to news reports. Rumors have circulated online that the Taliban gave him an ultimatum of a few hours before launching an assault. And there are questions about the solidity of his alliance with the former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who still enjoys constitutional legitimacy.
Still, his message to the West is one of determination and hope: “If we hold fast in the storm, the wind may shift, especially if we get aid and support.” From whom? “From anyone who is willing. From your country, in particular.” I joined him in April when he met in Paris with President Emmanuel Macron. “I was impressed by this young president, who admired my father and Gen. de Gaulle,” Mr. Massoud says. “I can’t imagine he will turn his back on us. He knows that the resistance in Panjshir is a shield against barbarism—not only for the Afghan people, but also for free people the world over.”
Mr. Lévy is author of “The Will to See: Dispatches From a World of Misery and Hope,” forthcoming in October.
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