Afghans remember mujahideen hero Masood

KABUL (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai reminded Afghanistan of the sacrifice of countless countrymen on Friday as he and other leaders marked the fourth anniversary of the assassination of mujahideen guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Masood.
Masood was killed by al Qaeda suicide bombers two days before the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. His troops, among the mujahideen, or holy warrior, forces who ousted the Soviets, helped the United States rout the Taliban two months later.

"We didn't achieve this huge victory for free," Karzai said in a speech at a ceremony at Kabul's sports stadium.
Untold thousands of sons of the soil had died in holy war and resistance for the freedom and honour of the nation, he said.

The country will on Sept. 18 elect a lower house of parliament and provincial councils in the last step of a U.S- and U.N.-backed plan to restore democratic government and stability, drawn up days after the Taliban were ousted.
Karzai, who was also in the anti-Soviet mujahideen alliance, was elected president for a five-year term in October last year.

He did not refer to the elections in his speech.
The president does not have a political party and has promised not to interfere in the legislative elections but has called for people to shun ethnic factions and elect honest people who put the country first.
Yunus Qanuni, leader of a loose alliance of parties opposed to Karzai, was a top political official in Masood's faction and has inherited much of his support. He attended on Friday.
One of Masood's brothers, Ahmad Zia Masood, is Karzai's first vice president.
Masood was credited with playing a key role in defeating Afghanistan's Soviet occupation.

He was killed by two Tunisian al Qaeda militants who posed as journalists and died when they detonated a bomb packed in a video camera during an interview.
A huge portrait of Masood dominates the Kabul stadium where the Taliban used to stage public executions. Thousands of people watched as Karzai and other leaders laid wreathes and a guard of honour marched.

Karzai also did not refer to the Taliban insurgency in the south and east where 20,000 U.S. troops are trying to ensure security for the election. About 10,000 NATO-led peacekeepers are also helping to guard the vote.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in violence this year, the bloodiest period since U.S. troops arrived in late 2001.

Masood, an ethnic Tajik, was known as the "Lion of the Panjsher" after his home valley northeast of Kabul from where he battled the Soviets and the Taliban.
In May, a French court jailed three men for helping the al Qaeda agents who killed him.

Ahmad Shah Masood
Ahmad Shah Masood was was born in 1953 in the Jangalak district of Panjsher. He played one of the most important roles in Afghanistan's modern history. To his admirers, he is known as the "Lion of Panjsher", a name given to him for his successes as a military commander during the war against the Soviet occupation. In fact, his fight against the Soviets was so well known that the Wall Street Journal labeled him as the "Afghan who won the cold war". After the Communists were defeated, Masood's troops were the first Mujahideen group to enter Kabul, and help establish a Mujahideen government. He served as President Burhanuddin Rabbani's Defense Minister, and engaged in numerous battles to prevent Rabbani's rivals such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from taking over the government. Eventually, Rabbani's government fell, and the Taliban with secret financial and military help from the Pakistanis, took over the capital. Masood and his allies pulled their forces north and worked on defending the north and the central regions from being completely taken over by the Taliban. Masood was chosen as the military leader of UNIFSA when on September 9, 2001, two days before the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, Masood was killed. He was the victim of an Al Qaeda suicide attack. The attackers posed as television journalists, setting off a bomb packed inside their video camera.
http://www.afghan-web.com/bios/yest/asmasood.html

Massoud's Letter To The People Of America
Date: 1998

A Message to the People of the United States of America

I send this message to you today on behalf of the freedom and peace-loving people of Afghanistan, the Mujahedeen freedom fighters who resisted and defeated Soviet communism, the men and women who are still resisting oppression and foreign hegemony and, in the name of more than one and a half million Afghan martyrs who sacrificed their lives to uphold some of the same values and ideals shared by most Americans and Afghans alike. This is a crucial and unique moment in the history of Afghanistan and the world, a time when Afghanistan has crossed yet another threshold and is entering a new stage of struggle and resistance for its survival as a free nation and independent state.

I have spent the past 20 years, most of my youth and adult life, alongside my compatriots, at the service of the Afghan nation, fighting an uphill battle to preserve our freedom, independence, right to self-determination and dignity. Afghans fought for God and country, sometime alone, at other times with the support of the international community. Against all odds, we, meaning the free world and Afghans, halted and checkmated Soviet expansionism a decade ago. But the embattled people of my country did not savor the fruits of victory. Instead they were thrust in a whirlwind of foreign intrigue, deception, great-gamesmanship and internal strife. Our country and our noble people were brutalized, the victims of misplaced greed, hegemonic designs and ignorance. We Afghans erred too. Our shortcomings were as a result of political innocence, inexperience, vulnerability, victimization, bickering and inflated egos. But by no means does this justify what some of our so-called Cold War allies did to undermine this just victory and unleash their diabolical plans to destroy and subjugate Afghanistan.

Today, the world clearly sees and feels the results of such misguided and evil deeds. South-Central Asia is in turmoil, some countries on the brink of war. Illegal drug production, terrorist activities and planning are on the rise. Ethnic and religiously-motivated mass murders and forced displacements are taking place, and the most basic human and women’s rights are shamelessly violated. The country has gradually been occupied by fanatics, extremists, terrorists, mercenaries, drug Mafias and professional murderers. One faction, the Taliban, which by no means rightly represents Islam, Afghanistan or our centuries-old cultural heritage, has with direct foreign assistance exacerbated this explosive situation. They are unyielding and unwilling to talk or reach a compromise with any other Afghan side.

Unfortunately, this dark accomplishment could not have materialized without the direct support and involvement of influential governmental and non-governmental circles in Pakistan. Aside from receiving military logistics, fuel and arms from Pakistan, our intelligence reports indicate that more than 28,000 Pakistani citizens, including paramilitary personnel and military advisers are part of the Taliban occupation forces in various parts of Afghanistan. We currently hold more than 500 Pakistani citizens including military personnel in our POW camps. Three major concerns - namely terrorism, drugs and human rights - originate from Taliban-held areas but areinstigated from Pakistan, thus forming the inter-connecting angles of an evil triangle. For many Afghans, regardless of ethnicity or religion, Afghanistan, for the second time in one decade, is once again an occupied country.

Let me correct a few fallacies that are propagated by Taliban backers and their lobbies around the world. This situation over the short and long-run, even in case of total control by the Taliban, will not be to anyone’s interest. It will not result in stability, peace and prosperity in the region. The people of Afghanistan will not accept such a repressive regime. Regional countries will never feel secure and safe. Resistance will not end in Afghanistan, but will take on a new national dimension, encompassing all Afghan ethnic and social strata.

The goal is clear. Afghans want to regain their right to self-determination through a democratic or traditional mechanism acceptable to our people. No one group, faction or individual has the right to dictate or impose its will by force or proxy on others. But first, the obstacles have to be overcome, the war has to end, just peace established and a transitional administration set up to move us toward a representative government.

We are willing to move toward this noble goal. We consider this as part of our duty to defend humanity against the scourge of intolerance, violence and fanaticism. But the international community and the democracies of the world should not waste any valuable time, and instead play their critical role to assist in any way possible the valiant people of Afghanistan overcome the obstacles that exist on the path to freedom, peace, stability and prosperity.

Effective pressure should be exerted on those countries who stand against the aspirations of the people of Afghanistan. I urge you to engage in constructive and substantive discussions with our representatives and all Afghans who can and want to be part of a broad consensus for peace and freedom for Afghanistan.

With all due respect and my best wishes for the government and people of the United States,

Ahmad Shah Massoud.

http://www.afghan-web.com/documents/let-masood.html

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